By Diane Jennings
The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN, Texas — True or false? A polygraph exam is a good way to tell if a suspect is lying.
Correct answer? Depends on whom you ask. But after decades of being widely discredited, the use of polygraphs, commonly known as “lie detectors,” has soared, thanks to national security efforts at the federal level and sex-offender monitoring at the state level.
The number of federal agencies using polygraphs is up from 19 to 26 in the last decade; the number of federal polygraph examiners has risen from about 400 to more than 600.
In Texas, there are about 235 state-licensed examiners. The bulk of their business comes from sex-offender monitoring, which became part of treatment programs in the early 1990s.
Polygraphs measure physiological responses to questions. Critics such as Dr. Ken Alder, author of last year’s The Lie Detectors: The History of an American Obsession, says reliance on the exams is “a farce.”
But Mike Chimarys, chairman of the Texas Association of Polygraph Examiners, says physiological responses to stress can tell a qualified examiner whether someone is telling the truth.
The quality of the examiner is critical, supporters and critics agree.
“I have no issues with taking a polygraph” with a qualified examiner, says Russ Koury, who received deferred adjudication in 2001 for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Mr. Koury recently petitioned a judge to allow him to select an examiner from a state-approved list, instead of using the one preferred by his probation officer. Mr. Koury wants to select an examiner he is comfortable with to avoid what he believes could be an inaccurate interpretation of the results.
Regular polygraphs, which cost about $200, are a part of required treatment and monitoring and are paid for by the offender. Mr. Koury, who is under supervision in Tarrant County, has taken the tests for years and has stayed out of trouble with the law. Conversations with other offenders convinced him that the fear of failing an exam is an effective deterrent.
But feeling comfortable with the examiner is critical, because that’s who interprets the blood pressure, sweat production and heart-rate readings. If the response to certain questions differs from normal readings, “deception” or “inconclusive” is registered.
Polygraphs detect stress, not deception, Dr. Alder says. With emotionally fraught topics such as sex offenses, “the risk of false positives is very great.”
Twenty years ago, Congress banned the use of polygraph exams by private employers, with some critics likening the tests to witchcraft. Ten years later, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas noted in a majority opinion limiting polygraph use that “there is simply no consensus that polygraph evidence is reliable.”
And in 2003, the National Academy of Sciences concluded that polygraphs distinguish between lying and truth “well above chance, though well below perfection.”
But many law enforcement officers believe in the technology, pointing to cases that were solved as a result of its use. Mr. Chimarys, who has a law degree and a master’s degree in psychology and is retired from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, estimates the machines have an accuracy rate exceeding 90 percent. The NCIS uses polygraphs. Donald Krapohl, special assistant to the director of the federal government’s Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment — which oversees federal polygraph examinations — said 90 percent is the figure accepted for accuracy by the academy for most tests.
“We’d like it to be better,” he added. “But it is simply the best we have.”
The problem is not with the polygraph, supporters say. It’s with poor examiners.
“There are just some [examiners] you need to beware of,” Mr. Chimarys said. “There are some I would not feel comfortable with - but those are few.”
Before Congress banned the use of polygraphs by private employers, Texas had about 570 examiners. But instead of conducting intensive tests, which last an hour or longer, many examiners “would administer 10 to 15 polygraph examinations a day,” Mr. Chimarys said.
Such quick tests are of little use, experts say. That’s one reason the profession’s image suffered 20 years ago, said Donald Ramsey, who retired from the FBI and is president of the Texas Association of Polygraph Examiners.
“We’re still trying to recover from the polyester polygraphist back in the ‘80s,” he said.
The criticism in the 1980s spurred the federal government to standardize examiner training and procedures, Mr. Krapohl said, making the test as effective as possible on the federal level.
Mr. Krapohl said challenges to polygraph use have benefited the business in the long run. “That scrutiny allows us to stay at the top of our game.”
At the state level, standards vary from none to rigorous. Texas is one of the stricter states, Mr. Krapohl said.
Polygraph exams should be used as an investigative tool, not to close a case, experts say.
That sounds fine, Dr. Alder said, but law enforcement officers sometimes use the test to “convince somebody that you can detect them telling a lie — and then get them to confess.”
Polygraph results generally are not admissible in court, but comments made during the examinations are admissible. If a suspect confesses, the examiner can testify to the conversation.
The majority of polygraph examiners in Texas are former law enforcement officers or current officers with a private business, according to the Texas Polygraph Examiners Board.
The state maintains a list of examiners approved for sex-offender testing, and local treatment providers choose examiners from that list. But some examiners say it’s hard to get referrals if you’re not part of the law enforcement fraternity.
“When it comes to sex-offender [testing] you’re basically locked out,” polygraph examiner Mark Robinson said.
“There’s not a good-old-boy system that I see,” Mr. Chimarys said. Probation and parole officers just prefer working with examiners they know, he said.
The tendency by former or current law enforcement polygraphers to try to induce confessions is what makes Mr. Koury uneasy.
After a new probation officer assigned him to an examiner he was uncomfortable with, Mr. Koury said, he told officials, ‘I’ll take a polygraph with whoever is on your list, but if I’m going to pay for it, I get to choose.’”
Polygraph facts
— Polygraph results generally are not admissible in court but sometimes can be introduced in post-conviction hearings, such as parole and probation revocations.
— Federal law prohibits polygraphs for pre-employment screenings by private employers, but law enforcement agencies, the military and certain industries are allowed to use them - and do so extensively.
-Though private employers may not use exams to screen employees, they may use them to investigate employees accused of wrongdoing.
POLYGRAPHS IN TEXAS
— Texas is one of 26 states that license polygraph examiners and was among the first to regulate the business in the 1960s.
— To become a polygraph examiner in Texas, a person is required to have a bachelor’s degree or five years of investigative experience; to complete an approved polygraph course and at least a six-month internship, or to complete a 12-month internship; and to pass a polygraph licensing exam.
Copyright 2008 The Dallas Morning News