Polygraph Tests
* Re “More Courts Weigh Merits of Polygraph Tests,†July 13: The move toward the “respectability†of the polygraph in judicial proceedings is frightening. A witness who is a proven liar even 1% of the time is discredited. How is it that this machine, which experts acknowledge lies 10% of the time, is allowed in courts?
People who can beat the polygraph are the more hardened criminals. As a result, the polygraph will bias the judicial system in favor of the worst criminals and against innocent people who cannot control their physical reactions to criminal proceedings.
Perhaps we’ll have to see some luckless soul, whose only crime was being terrified of the charges against him or her, sent to the gas chamber before this ill-advised trend is reversed.
MICHAEL O’BRIEN
Los Angeles
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