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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 8 page paper explains how polygraphs work and why they have long been considered unreliable, and argues that evidence obtained from a polygraph test should once again be banned from the courtroom. Bibliography lists 9 sources.
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8 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVPolTst.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
privacy issues objecting to it while many law enforcement officials support it. This paper explains how polygraphs work and why they have long been considered unreliable, and argues that evidence
obtained from a polygraph test should once again be banned from the courtroom. The Way It Works A polygraph (what most people call a "lie detector") is "an instrument
that simultaneously records changes in physiological processes such as heartbeat, blood pressure, respiration and electrical resistance (galvanic skin response or GSR)" (Carroll, 2005). The underlying premise for the use
of these machines is that "when people like they also get measurably nervous about lying" causing their hearts to beat faster, their blood pressure to rise, their breathing to change,
and so on (Carroll, 2005). In short, the theory says that when people lie purposely, they exhibit actual physiological changes that can be measured. When a person is given
a lie detector test, the examiner first establishes a "baseline" by asking the subject questions to which the examiner already knows the answer (Carroll, 2005). If the subjects other
answers deviate from the baseline thus established, he is considered to be lying (Carroll, 2005). There are three basic methods for giving the polygraph test: the Control Question Test
(CQT), the Directed Lie Test (DLT) and the Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT) (Carroll, 2005). When the CQT is used, the examiner "compares the physiological response to relevant questions about
the crime with the response to questions relating to possible prior misdeeds" (Carroll, 2005). According to the American Psychological Association, this method is used "to determine whether certain criminal
suspects should be prosecuted or classified as uninvolved in the crime" (Carroll, 2005). It also seems to have an air of putting those with previous criminal records at a
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