NCJ Number
207603
Journal
Polygraph Volume: 33 Issue: 3 Dated: 2004 Pages: 190-200
Date Published
2004
Length
11 pages
Annotation
A sample of 101 polygraph examiners who worked for law enforcement agencies were surveyed to determine how often they tested juveniles, the testing methods most often used with juveniles, and whether any special alterations were made for juveniles in the testing and the analysis.
Abstract
The survey findings indicate that 74.3 percent of the respondents have tested at least 1 juvenile (under 16 years old); these examiners have tested between 1 and 1,000 juveniles in the course of their careers. Several examiners used the polygraph with early adolescents, including juveniles as young as 7 years old. More than half of the respondents did not use any special modifications in testing juveniles. Any alterations examiners made with juveniles were primarily related to time bars or linguistic changes in the control questions. Only 26.7 percent of the respondents reported conducting prescreening to determine whether the juvenile would be a good subject for the polygraph. The most frequent limitations of juveniles cited by the examiners as possibly affecting polygraph results were their lack of cognitive skills and moral development necessary to produce significant measured physiological responses to test questions. The authors advise that the less cognitively demanding Directed Lie Test or the Guilty Knowledge Test might be the most appropriate methods of addressing these limitations. 4 tables, 1 figure, and 22 references