How Close?

[fender85]

How close is our country to outlawing these silly machines from pre-employment? Is it anywhere in the near future?

[Fair Chance]

Dear fender85,

Not close at all to ending the use of polygraph usage in the Federal Government.  The FBI is "changing" the drug policy of appilcants because the specific amount of times that drugs are used is causing "confusion" within the polygraph testing.  

This is a great spin on the fact that many applicants have been disqualified by polygraph usage strictly based on polygraph results and appealed.  The FBI polygraph community is defending their "failure rate" based on the fact that it is the applicants" psychological reaction to the drug usage question rather than the inaccuracy of the test itself.

They are not even close to giving up a machine which they think has great utility for confessions even if the scientific validity is nothing short of very questionable.

Regards.

[LieBabyCryBaby]

I agree. The polygraph isn't going anywhere. Since it's the best tool we have--whether it's 70% accurate or 95% accurate--it will be around until something better comes along either to replace it or be combined with it.

The polygraph process--which includes not just the machine itself, but the whole process from pre-polygraph interview to post-polygraph interrogation--is an excellent tool and has proven itself much more than it has failed, at least in the minds of the powers that be who advocate and benefit from its use. Therefore, don't expect to see it disappear at least for the next decade or so.

[George W. Maschke]

AntiPolygraph.org has proposed language for a Comprehensive Employee Polygraph Protection Act that would close all loopholes in the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988. To date, no member of Congress has introduced such legislation, but I would encourage you to contact your representative and senators asking that they do so.

There is no need, as LieBabyCryBaby suggests, to wait until a real lie detector is invented before abolishing one (the polygraph) that doesn't work. The states of Massachussets, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Oregon, which have outlawed all workplace polygraph screening, even for law enforcement agencies, are living proof that the polygraph is an unnecessary evil.