NCJ Number
87280
Journal
Polygraph Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1982) Pages: 215-224
Date Published
1982
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article addresses misunderstandings about polygraph global evaluation and considers its components: fact analysis, behavioral observation and analysis, chart interpretation, and posttest interrogation.
Abstract
Polygraph global evaluation is not a general circumspection of a set of polygraph charts with no response comparison between relevant and control questions and neither does it permit an examiner to allow his/her investigative experience, behavioral observations, or intuition to supersede or ignore the physiological recordings present on a set of polygraph charts. In essence, global evaluation is inductive case analysis in which one goes from the particular to the general, i.e., an analysis of separate variables to reach an overall conclusion about a particular question or issue. Global evaluation uses four components in a preplanned, structured, and analytical method: fact analysis, behavioral observation and analysis, chart interpretation, and posttest interrogation. Fact analysis involves the examiner receiving information on the issue under investigation. This information may come from statements made to various parties by the subject, witnesses, and the victim and may also include investigative reports, court transcripts, laboratory reports, and physical evidence. Behavioral analysis consists of the analytic observation of the subject's verbal and nonverbal behavior, particularly as exhibited during the pretest interview, so as to provide information on the subject's physical, mental, and emotional suitability for testing as well as the subject's truthfulness on the issue under investigation. Chart analysis consists of an examination of the physiological tracings on the polygraph chart, and posttest interrogation is a validating procedure to resolve both marginal and contradictory situations, particularly where fact and behavioral analyses indicate truthfulness while the charts show deception. Thirteen references are listed.