Instrumentation for the Detection of Deception
Instrumentation for the Detection of Deception
Specialists in the area of criminal law often face many challenges related to human factor. Deception is one of such challenges that hinder the process of solving the case. For this reason, certain techniques and instrumentation for the detection of deception were developed. Polygraph is probably the most known instrument created for such purposes. However, even the polygraph does not give the results of 100% accuracy. The test on polygraph is based on the physical reactions of an individual to one or another question that may indicate whether this individual is lying or telling the truth. Nevertheless, there are examples where cold-blooded criminals did not show any significant nervousness lying or reduced their reaction to uncomfortable questions to such low levels that it was unrecognized by the polygraph and the deception remained concealed. In this essay, I would like to focus on the instrumentation for the detection of deception in detail to understand the effectiveness of such techniques.
The stories of the detection of the deception presented in the book The Lie Detector, The History of an American Obsession by Ken Alder illustrate the common patterns of behavior that contribute to uncovering the deception. The three stories from the first chapters of the book introduce the reader to the complex area of human psychology and interaction. The main heroes of these stories devote their faith to scientific progress that improves the work of the police and helps preventing the corruption in the department (Grimes, 2007). The polygraph is perceived by them as the scientific miracle that makes the process of identifying the criminal easier and more accurate (Alder, 2007). However, from the standpoint of the real science, one can see that the polygraph provides very fluid results that are far from defining whether the person tells the truth or not. Since the polygraphs work is based on involuntary body reactions such as pulse rate and changes in blood pressure, the device can hardly measure the degree of sincerity (Fienberg, 2003). It rather simply detects the nervousness that seems normal in the atmosphere of interrogation. Nevertheless, the appearance of such device in the beginning of the 20th century was phenomenal to the criminalists in the United States and the delight of our main heroes was completely comprehensible.
The support for this argument can be found in a video of “ABC News Expose” that reveals the story of a fake scientific invention called the CVSA that works by the principle of the polygraph. The story illustrates how the people can be misled by the results provided by the machine. The video emphasizes the importance of a thorough interpretation of such testing and the danger of obtaining wrong confessions if blindly believing the reading of such devices. In the case study presented in this video, one can see a boy who confessed that he stabbed her little sister under the pressure of the interrogation with the CVSA though he did not do it and the real killer was found later (Expose on Charles Humble and his phony PHD).
References
Alder, K. (2007). The lie detectors: The history of an American obsession. New York: Free Press.
Expose on Charles Humble and his phony PHD [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr3E_2KTxI0
Fienberg, S. E. (2003). The polygraph and lie detection. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Grimes, W. (2007). “The Tangled Web of the Truth Machine”. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/books/02book.html?_r=0
