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Posted by George W. Maschke
- Oct 14, 2001, 01:41 PMantiman,
You noted that your polygraph interrogation included no "control" questions. What questions did your polygrapher ask you?
The American Polygraph Association standards for sex offender "testing" require that either a Zone Comparison or a Modified General Question technique be used prior to rendering a final decision of "deception indicated." Both techniques are variants of the "control" question "test." The following is an excerpt from Robert G. Lundell's article "Sex Offender Testing: Still Basic Polygraph" published in the APA quarterly Polygraph, Vol. 29 (2000), No. 1, pp. 40-43:
By the way, the above-referenced standards are included in an introductory article by Donnie W. Dutton in the same issue of Polygraph.
You noted that your polygraph interrogation included no "control" questions. What questions did your polygrapher ask you?
The American Polygraph Association standards for sex offender "testing" require that either a Zone Comparison or a Modified General Question technique be used prior to rendering a final decision of "deception indicated." Both techniques are variants of the "control" question "test." The following is an excerpt from Robert G. Lundell's article "Sex Offender Testing: Still Basic Polygraph" published in the APA quarterly Polygraph, Vol. 29 (2000), No. 1, pp. 40-43:
Quote
Over the last 15-20 years in which the application of polygraphy has expanded into the field of sexual offender management and assessment, so has the number of so-called "appropriate" test methods and formats. Well meaning examiners have digressed from what they should have learned in basic polygraph school, to methods of testing which could be best described as anywhere from flawed to outrageous. Most of us have heard all the horror stories: a 20-question test--all relevant questions, no comparisons [i.e., "control" questions], sacrifice relevants, symptomatics, or even neutrals. There have been an excessive number of relevant questions in some examinations, even when using comparisons. What continues to occur with alarming frequency is the examination where the format is fine, but the relevant questions do not fit the definition we all should subscribe to: single in issue, narrow in scope, concise, and does not allow for multiple meanings or interpretations. When examiners stray from that concept of basic polygraphy, they invite disaster, not only by offering opinions about truthfulness to a bad question, but by not addressing those issues of primary importance.
In 1998, at the annual meeting of the American Polygraph Association (APA) in Washington, DC, a subcommittee that had been working together for the previous year, presented to the Board of Directors a set of standards for this specialized field of Post-Conviction Sex Offender Testing. Ultimately, these new standards were adopted. Now any member of the APA who is engaged in the practice of post-conviction testing of sexual offenders is required to complete an approved 40-hour course, and pass a written examination administered by the APA.
These standards authorized two examination formats: Zone Comparison, and Modified General Question Techniques. No more than four relevant questions can be used in these formats, and while the standard allows for "reasonable departures" from validated methods, such deviations need to be fully supported by other professionals, and consistent with research. Nowhere does the standard allow for changing the basic definition of any polygraph question. These new standards will complement, not subvert, all the existing standards of practice of the American Polygraph Association.
By the way, the above-referenced standards are included in an introductory article by Donnie W. Dutton in the same issue of Polygraph.
Posted by Administrator
- Oct 13, 2001, 06:34 PMantiman,
Your message has been edited to remove line wrapping for ease of reading and transferred from the employment forums to the "Share Your Polygraph or CVSA Experience" forum. No words have been deleted or changed.
Your message has been edited to remove line wrapping for ease of reading and transferred from the employment forums to the "Share Your Polygraph or CVSA Experience" forum. No words have been deleted or changed.
Posted by antiman
- Oct 13, 2001, 06:03 PMWhile nearing the last three months of my probation for a trumped up charge of Indecent Exposure, I had to take a "monitoring" polygraph. Prior to this I had taken a "sexual history" polygraph and allegedly failed and was to re-take it. However, the probation officer looked at the calendar and saw that I am near the end of the probation and I'd recieved a letter from the county in which my probation was rendered, informing me of the expiration date of the probation. So, while I was to re-take the sexual history polygraph, the probation officer decided to suddenly change it to the monitoring polygraph. I went through the ordeal and was also able to get most of the session recorded on a secret digital recording device for future reference just in case I have to get a lawyer again. The results of the "test" were deemed "inconclusive". Why? Because I did exactly as the polygrapher instructed--relax, sit comfortably and not rigidly, and look forward and answer the questions truthfully. Afterwards after many moments, he came back into the examination room and said he had two other ploygraphers also score the chart and the results were deemed inconclusive. He wanted me to come back in two weeks to re-take the exam and it was all I could do to keep from laughing in the man's face. I remain amazed at the ignorance of some people because I did as he requested and while the questions were geared more towards "trying to determine if I"ve done anything in violation of my probation", which of course I have not, all answers were the truth.
Now for all you individuals on this forum who have and continue to be victims of this abusive device, I must give you the following advice: Unless you can effectively identify "control questions", any of the countermeasures suggested in this forum are useless, can, and often do backfire. However, the only "countermeasures" I employed, if you wnat to call them that, was simply imagery and steady even and consistent breathing. Imagery has as much to do with the physiological responses as emotion. So, the trick is this, hear the questions but DO NOT think about them as thinking about them will cause hesitancy in the physiological responses such as jumps in the heartbeat no matter how much you breathe consistently. The thing that seems to work for me is to keep firmly in my mind the image of relaxing on the beach or by the lakeside on a clear day and to keep that image firmly in your mind as you hear the questions and answer them but DO NOT think about them. Since you will have already gone through the questions prior to the actual "test", you already will know what they are and what your answers are going to be. We went through the procedure twice. Afterwards after many moments, he came back in the room and announced that the results were inconclusive and that two other polygraphers had scored the chart along with him, resulting in the inconclusiveness of the exam. I remained calm and although he wanted me to come back and re-take the test in two weeks "at no charge to anyone", I was about to burst out laughing and couldn't wait to get back to my car and bust a gut laughing.
Apparently the imagery works well and the trick to it all is breathing normally, steadily, and consistently through the whole test. Unless you already know what the control questions are, IF ANY (in my case there weren't any), then the tightening of the anal sphincter is useless as are any of the other countermeasures suggested in this forum. I know because I used that technique in the "sexual history" polygraph that they said I allegedly failed and will have to re-take later, so they say. This was because I recognized what appeard to me to be control questions. The fact remained that the entire chart was even and consistent all the way across as I saw it and do have a photographic memory for certain things and was able to look it up in chart examples in a book of polygraphy that gives examples of "truthful" charts.
Now that I've employed countermeasures of my own that apparently work, I'm sharing this information for all you victims of the bull crap of polygraphy, especially those of you like myself who had to plead guilty to a misdemeanor sex offense but have been treated like a felony offender since the beginning in addition to being a victim of a corrupt system. This same corrupt system uses polygraphy in attempts to either get one's probation extended or revoked. In my case they're trying to extend it despite the fact that in most states polygraphy is not admissable in court. What I fail to understand most of all is that if the court has not ordered submission to polygraph examinations in the rendering of one's terms of probation and deferred adjudication as in my case, how is it then that the probation system can and does insist on this abusive device? There is also the issue of a high level of polygraph fraud and this has been evident in my case as I think certain counties in certain states obviously have a scam going on with the polygraphers in a ploy that if they "buy into" the bull crap of polygraphy and can use it to get someone's probation extended, they will do so. What remains a mystery is that since polygraphy is usually not admissiable in court, how then is it that they can use it to extend one's probation when essentially it is not admissable in court? Are the judges we elect so incompetent that they buy into to lies of a pseudo-science that legally is not admissable in court, yet do so against the very values of judicial merit they are supposed to embrace? This is beyond rediculous!!! IT IS CRIMINAL IN ITSELF!! It only confirms and substantiates the growing conclusion that our nation's judicial system as well as governmental system as a whole continues to be plagued by the perils of "double standards" in everything and when judges abuse their power to embrace that which is deemed statutorily unlawful based on a psuedo-science and make it "admissable", then it becomes obvious that the whole of our nation's legal and governmental systems needs an overhaul.
Another twist to all this is before I left the polygraphers office, he wanted me to come back and re-take the inconclusive test in two weeks and made a comment to which I was totally mortified and that simply was, "Next time, think about your sexual desires." I thought, "God, what an Asshole!!!!"
I hope that this information is helpful to all those of you who have been and continue to remain victims of this abusive device that should be outlawed across the board and put in museums along with the rest of voodoo pseudo-sciences that really have no framework in realism whatsoever. I encourage and welcome all responses especially those of you who are victimized by polygraphy in the State of Texas if you are on misdemeanor sex offense probation. Despite the ramifications of any such case in Texas, apparently entrapment is legal in Texas but is illegal in other states so keep this in mind if you're been charged with Indecent Exposure in Texas and are a gay male. I've learned that no matter what the real story of what happened is, the cops will always write up some trumped up report to incite the charges and the judges, especially female ones, will take it and believe it as if it were carved in stone and the "system" will take the cops side every time. Hence, having to plead guilty to something you can't fight without witnesses just to get deferred adjudication and a supervised probation with no prior criminal record of any kind other than traffic tickets. Again I welcome and encourage response and feedback to this posting, especially from probationers victimized by polygraphy in Texas.
Now for all you individuals on this forum who have and continue to be victims of this abusive device, I must give you the following advice: Unless you can effectively identify "control questions", any of the countermeasures suggested in this forum are useless, can, and often do backfire. However, the only "countermeasures" I employed, if you wnat to call them that, was simply imagery and steady even and consistent breathing. Imagery has as much to do with the physiological responses as emotion. So, the trick is this, hear the questions but DO NOT think about them as thinking about them will cause hesitancy in the physiological responses such as jumps in the heartbeat no matter how much you breathe consistently. The thing that seems to work for me is to keep firmly in my mind the image of relaxing on the beach or by the lakeside on a clear day and to keep that image firmly in your mind as you hear the questions and answer them but DO NOT think about them. Since you will have already gone through the questions prior to the actual "test", you already will know what they are and what your answers are going to be. We went through the procedure twice. Afterwards after many moments, he came back in the room and announced that the results were inconclusive and that two other polygraphers had scored the chart along with him, resulting in the inconclusiveness of the exam. I remained calm and although he wanted me to come back and re-take the test in two weeks "at no charge to anyone", I was about to burst out laughing and couldn't wait to get back to my car and bust a gut laughing.
Apparently the imagery works well and the trick to it all is breathing normally, steadily, and consistently through the whole test. Unless you already know what the control questions are, IF ANY (in my case there weren't any), then the tightening of the anal sphincter is useless as are any of the other countermeasures suggested in this forum. I know because I used that technique in the "sexual history" polygraph that they said I allegedly failed and will have to re-take later, so they say. This was because I recognized what appeard to me to be control questions. The fact remained that the entire chart was even and consistent all the way across as I saw it and do have a photographic memory for certain things and was able to look it up in chart examples in a book of polygraphy that gives examples of "truthful" charts.
Now that I've employed countermeasures of my own that apparently work, I'm sharing this information for all you victims of the bull crap of polygraphy, especially those of you like myself who had to plead guilty to a misdemeanor sex offense but have been treated like a felony offender since the beginning in addition to being a victim of a corrupt system. This same corrupt system uses polygraphy in attempts to either get one's probation extended or revoked. In my case they're trying to extend it despite the fact that in most states polygraphy is not admissable in court. What I fail to understand most of all is that if the court has not ordered submission to polygraph examinations in the rendering of one's terms of probation and deferred adjudication as in my case, how is it then that the probation system can and does insist on this abusive device? There is also the issue of a high level of polygraph fraud and this has been evident in my case as I think certain counties in certain states obviously have a scam going on with the polygraphers in a ploy that if they "buy into" the bull crap of polygraphy and can use it to get someone's probation extended, they will do so. What remains a mystery is that since polygraphy is usually not admissiable in court, how then is it that they can use it to extend one's probation when essentially it is not admissable in court? Are the judges we elect so incompetent that they buy into to lies of a pseudo-science that legally is not admissable in court, yet do so against the very values of judicial merit they are supposed to embrace? This is beyond rediculous!!! IT IS CRIMINAL IN ITSELF!! It only confirms and substantiates the growing conclusion that our nation's judicial system as well as governmental system as a whole continues to be plagued by the perils of "double standards" in everything and when judges abuse their power to embrace that which is deemed statutorily unlawful based on a psuedo-science and make it "admissable", then it becomes obvious that the whole of our nation's legal and governmental systems needs an overhaul.
Another twist to all this is before I left the polygraphers office, he wanted me to come back and re-take the inconclusive test in two weeks and made a comment to which I was totally mortified and that simply was, "Next time, think about your sexual desires." I thought, "God, what an Asshole!!!!"
I hope that this information is helpful to all those of you who have been and continue to remain victims of this abusive device that should be outlawed across the board and put in museums along with the rest of voodoo pseudo-sciences that really have no framework in realism whatsoever. I encourage and welcome all responses especially those of you who are victimized by polygraphy in the State of Texas if you are on misdemeanor sex offense probation. Despite the ramifications of any such case in Texas, apparently entrapment is legal in Texas but is illegal in other states so keep this in mind if you're been charged with Indecent Exposure in Texas and are a gay male. I've learned that no matter what the real story of what happened is, the cops will always write up some trumped up report to incite the charges and the judges, especially female ones, will take it and believe it as if it were carved in stone and the "system" will take the cops side every time. Hence, having to plead guilty to something you can't fight without witnesses just to get deferred adjudication and a supervised probation with no prior criminal record of any kind other than traffic tickets. Again I welcome and encourage response and feedback to this posting, especially from probationers victimized by polygraphy in Texas.