Editing Polygraph (section)

==Society and culture==
===Portrayals in media===
Lie detection has a long history in mythology and fairy tales; the polygraph has allowed modern fiction to use a device more easily seen as scientific and plausible. Notable instances of polygraph usage include uses in crime and espionage themed television shows and some [[daytime television]] talk shows, cartoons and films. Numerous TV shows have been called ''Lie Detector'' or featured the device. The first ''Lie Detector'' TV show aired in the 1950s, created and hosted by [[Ralph Andrews]]. In the 1960s Andrews produced a series of specials hosted by [[Melvin Belli]]. In the 1970s the show was hosted by Jack Anderson. In early 1983 [[Columbia Pictures Television]] put on a syndicated series hosted by [[F. Lee Bailey]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.impac-systems.com/world/americas/ct.asp|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024193643/http://www.impac-systems.com/world/americas/ct.asp|url-status=dead|title=IMPAC: F. Lee Bailey bio|archivedate=October 24, 2008}}</ref> In 1998 TV producer Mark Phillips with his Mark Phillips Philms & Telephision put ''Lie Detector'' back on the air on the FOX Network—on that program Ed Gelb with host [[Marcia Clark]] questioned [[Mark Fuhrman]] about the allegation that he "planted [[O. J. Simpson murder case|the bloody glove]]". In 2005 Phillips produced ''[[Lie Detector (TV series)|Lie Detector]]'' as a series for PAX/ION; some of the guests included [[Paula Jones]], Reverend [[Paul Crouch]] accuser Lonny Ford, Ben Rowling, [[Jeff Gannon]] and [[Swift Vets and POWs for Truth|Swift Boat Vet]], Steve Garner.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kr3xmUi61goC&dq=Lie+Detector+F.+Lee+Bailey&pg=PA151|title=Lie Detectors: A Social History|first=Kerry|last=Segrave|date=November 18, 2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786481613 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

In the UK, shows such as ''[[The Jeremy Kyle Show]]'' used polygraph tests extensively. The show was ultimately canceled when a participant committed suicide shortly after being polygraphed. The guest was slated by Kyle on the show for failing the polygraph, but no other evidence has come forward to prove any guilt. Producers later admitted in the inquiry that they were unsure on how accurate the tests performed were.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/jeremy-kyle-show-cancelled-itv-lie-detector-accuracy-producer-tom-mclennan-a8973756.html|title=Jeremy Kyle producer unable to say how accurate lie detector tests were|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|author=Barr, Sabrina|language=en|url-status=live|date=June 25, 2019|access-date=December 15, 2022|archivedate=June 26, 2019|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626061810/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/jeremy-kyle-show-cancelled-itv-lie-detector-accuracy-producer-tom-mclennan-a8973756.html}}</ref>

In the Fox game show ''[[The Moment of Truth (US game show)|The Moment of Truth]]'', contestants are privately asked personal questions a few days before the show while hooked to a polygraph. On the show they asked the same questions in front of a studio audience and members of their family. In order to advance in the game they must give a "truthful" answer as determined by the previous polygraph exam.<ref name="TVWeek">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.tvweek.com/news/2007/11/darnell_in_defense_of_the_trut.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080221113425/http://www.tvweek.com/news/2007/11/darnell_in_defense_of_the_trut.php|archive-date=2008-02-21|title=Darnell in Defense of the 'Truth': Fox Executive Talks About the Network's Controversial Lie Detector Show|magazine=TV Week|author=James Hibberd|date=2007-11-25|access-date=2008-03-11}}</ref>

Daytime talk shows, such as [[Maury Povich]] and [[Steve Wilkos]], have used polygraphs to supposedly detect deception in interview subjects on their programs that pertain to [[Cheating (sex)|cheating]], [[child abuse]], and [[theft]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/post/176031-thetruth-about-maury/|title=The Tested Truth About 'Maury Povich'|last=O'Dell|first=Cary|date=November 12, 2013|work=Pop Matters|access-date=9 December 2014}}</ref>

In episode 93 of the US science show ''[[MythBusters]]'', the hosts attempted to fool the polygraph by using pain when answering truthfully, in order to test the notion that polygraphs interpret truthful and non-truthful answers as the same. They also attempted to fool the polygraph by thinking pleasant thoughts when lying and thinking stressful thoughts when telling the truth, to try to confuse the machine. However, neither technique was successful for a number of reasons. Michael Martin correctly identified each guilty and innocent subject. Martin suggested that when conducted properly, polygraphs are correct 98% of the time, but no scientific evidence has been offered for this.<ref>For critical commentary on this episode, see {{cite web | last=Maschke|first=George|title=Mythbusters Beat the Lie Detector Episode featuring Michael Martin|publisher=AntiPolygraph.org|date=December 7, 2007|url=https://antipolygraph.org/cgi-bin/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1197009999}}</ref>

The history of the polygraph is the subject of the [[documentary film]] ''The Lie Detector'', which first aired on ''[[American Experience]]'' on January 3, 2023.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kpbs.org/news/2022/12/20/american-experience-the-lie-detector|author=Robinson, Jennifer|title=American Experience: The Lie Detector|publisher=[[KPBS (TV)|KPBS]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=December 20, 2022|access-date=January 4, 2023|archivedate=January 2, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102080908/https://www.kpbs.org/news/2022/12/20/american-experience-the-lie-detector}}</ref>

===Hand-held lie detector for US military===
A hand-held lie detector is being deployed by the US Department of Defense according to a report in 2008 by investigative reporter [[Bill Dedman]] of [[NBC News]]. The Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System, or PCASS, captures less physiological information than a polygraph, and uses an algorithm, not the judgment of a polygraph examiner, to render a decision whether it believes the person is being deceptive or not. The device was first used in Afghanistan by US Army troops. The Department of Defense ordered its use be limited to non-US persons, in overseas locations only.<ref>{{cite web|first=Bill|last=Dedman|date=April 9, 2008|title=New anti-terror weapon: Hand-held lie detector|publisher=[[NBC News]]|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23926278|access-date=May 12, 2025}}</ref>

===Notable cases===
Polygraphy has been faulted for failing to trap known [[Espionage|spies]] such as double-agent [[Aldrich Ames]], who passed two polygraph tests while spying for the Soviet Union.<ref name="Hess, Pamela 2008"/><ref>Ames provides personal insight into the U.S. Government's reliance on polygraphy in a 2000 letter to Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists at {{cite journal|first=Aldrich|last=Ames|author-link=Aldrich Ames|date=November 28, 2000|title=A Letter from Aldrich Ames on Polygraph Testing|journal=Federation of American Scientists|url=https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/polygraph/ames.html}}</ref> Ames failed several tests while at the CIA that were never acted on.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ronald Kessler|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/08/opinion/spies-lies-averted-eyes.html|title=Spies, Lies, Averted Eyes|work=The New York Times|date=March 8, 1994|access-date=March 19, 2018}}</ref> Other spies who passed the polygraph include [[Karl Koecher]],<ref name="karl">{{cite news|last=Kessler|first=Ron|title=Moscow's Mole in the CIA: How a Swinging Czech Superspy Stole America's Most Sensitive Secrets|newspaper=Washington Post|date=April 17, 1988|page=C1}}</ref> [[Ana Montes]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Bachelet|first=Pablo|title=Book outlines how spy exposed U.S. intelligence secrets to Cuba|publisher=McClatchy Washington Bureau|date=October 13, 2006|url=http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/15754464.htm|quote=She first came under U.S. suspicion in 1994, when Cuba detected a highly secret electronic surveillance system. Montes took a polygraph test and passed it.}}</ref> and [[Leandro Aragoncillo]].<ref>{{cite web|author1=Ross, Brian  |author2=Richard Esposito |name-list-style=amp |title=Investigation Continues: Security Breach at the White House|publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|date=October 6, 2005|url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1190375|quote=Officials say Aragoncillo passed several lie detector tests that are routinely given to individuals with top secret clearances.}}</ref> CIA spy [[Harold James Nicholson]] failed his polygraph examinations, which aroused suspicions that led to his eventual arrest.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dept. of Energy, Office of Counterintelligence|work=Harold James Nicholson Dossier|url=http://www.hanford.gov/oci/ci_spy.cfm?dossier=62#|access-date=2009-06-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921234938/http://www.hanford.gov/oci/ci_spy.cfm?dossier=62|archive-date=2008-09-21|url-status=dead}}</ref> Polygraph examination and background checks failed to detect [[Nada Nadim Prouty]], who was not a spy but was convicted for improperly obtaining US citizenship and using it to obtain a restricted position at the FBI.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/13/AR2007111302033.html|title=Ex-FBI Employee's Case Raises New Security Concerns Sham Marriage Led to U.S. Citizenship|newspaper=Washington Post|date=2007-11-14 |first1=Joby |last1=Warrick |first2=Dan |last2=Eggen |access-date=May 22, 2010}}</ref><!--- the relevance of this case, currently unstated here for lack of sourced discussion, is that a reader might think ordinary immigrants wouldn't have some special secret polygraph-breaking training that double agents above might have --->

The polygraph also failed to catch [[Gary Ridgway]], the "Green River Killer". Another suspect allegedly failed a given lie detector test, whereas Ridgway passed.<ref name="Lewis, J. A. 2009"/> Ridgway passed a polygraph in 1984; he confessed almost 20 years later when confronted with DNA evidence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/special-reports/article25855150.html|title=What made Ridgway kill still a riddle|work=The News Tribune|date=2003-11-09}}</ref>  Conversely, innocent people have been known to fail polygraph tests. In [[Wichita, Kansas]] in 1986, Bill Wegerle was suspected of murdering his wife Vicki Wegerle because he failed two polygraph tests (one administered by the police, the other conducted by an expert that Wegerle had hired), although he was neither arrested nor convicted of her death. In March 2004, evidence surfaced connecting her death to the serial killer known as BTK, and in 2005 DNA evidence from the Wegerle murder confirmed that BTK was [[Dennis Rader]], exonerating Wegerle.<ref>{{cite episode|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/btk-out-of-the-shadows/|title=BTK: Out Of The Shadows|series=48 Hours Mysteries|network=CBS News|date=October 1, 2005}}</ref>

Prolonged polygraph examinations are sometimes used as a tool by which [[Confession (law)|confessions]] are extracted from a defendant, as in the case of [[Richard Miller (agent)|Richard Miller]], who was persuaded to confess largely by polygraph results combined with appeals from a religious leader.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afda.org/afda/news/Opinion_Miller.pdf|title=United States of America versus William Galbreth|date=1995-03-09|access-date=2008-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227114423/http://www.afda.org/afda/news/Opinion_Miller.pdf|archive-date=2008-02-27|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the [[Watts family murders]], Christopher Watts failed one such polygraph test and subsequently confessed to murdering his wife.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://abc13.com/chris-watts-wife-killed-our-girls-so-i-strangled-her/4009246/|title=Chris Watts: Wife killed our girls, so I strangled her|date=August 20, 2018|publisher=[[KTRK-TV]]|location=[[Houston]]|access-date=February 2, 2019}}</ref> In the 2002 disappearance of seven-year-old [[Danielle van Dam]] of [[San Diego]], police suspected neighbor David Westerfield; he became the prime suspect when he allegedly failed a polygraph test.<ref>{{cite web|last=Roth|first=Alex|url=http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/metro/danielle/20030109-9999_1m9david.html|title=Westerfield failed polygraph test badly: 'Greater than 99%' chance he was lying, examiner says on tape|work=San Diego Union-Tribune|date=January 9, 2003|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929224315/http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/metro/danielle/20030109-9999_1m9david.html|archive-date=September 29, 2012}}</ref>