NCJ Number
137559
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: (June 1992) Pages: 357- 379
Date Published
1992
Length
23 pages
Annotation
Polygraph tests are psychological tests that are widely applied in the criminal justice system. Two recent Federal appellate court decisions may have assisted in admitting polygraph test results as evidence by overturning the long controlling Frye standard.
Abstract
When examined in terms of the Federal Rules of Evidence, polygraphs seem to meet the requirement of legal form of evidence. While the problems of legal and logical relevance may be more difficult to overcome, some hurdles of legal evidence have been crossed in Federal and military courts. These courts have found that if the defendant testifies, polygraph test results are legally relevant by serving to make more or less probable the truthfulness of a witness' testimony. Most serious challenges to the logical relevance of polygraph tests center on undesirable polygraph examiner practices. In general, examiners are poorly trained and lack standardized techniques. Proven physical and mental countermeasures provide another serious challenge to the acceptance of polygraph tests. Computerized chart evaluation, which is not widely used in the field, has been found to overcome these countermeasures. 86 references (Author abstract modified)