NCJ Number
110068
Journal
Security Management Volume: 32 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1988) Pages: 80-82,83,84
Date Published
1988
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Polygraph examinations are both the most widely used and the most commonly misunderstood type of preemployment screening.
Abstract
A properly conducted polygraph examination should provide a company with useful, relevant background information on a job applicant without delving into any issues prohibited by law. In a survey of 494 preemployment polygraph examinations conducted from January 1, 1987, to November 30, 1987, with the examinees ranging in age from mid-teens to upper sixties, the following admissions were among those made: 72 percent admitted to having used marijuana at least once, 15 percent admitted to job-related alcohol use, 23 percent admitted to having stolen money from employers, and 10 percent admitted to having committed at least one undetected serious crime. The polygraph's methodology consisted of the pretest which included an interview, the test where at least two polygraphs were conducted with time for additional admissions allowed in between, and the posttest where the tests were interpreted and results discussed with examinees. The examiners concluded the following about the truthfulness of the applicants: 82 percent were truthful in their admissions; 3 percent had responses considered uninterpretable by the polygraph; and 15 percent were not being completely truthful. Actual admissions by applicants are specified and broken down.