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My understanding is that the police use polygraphs simply as a 'primed' question-asking session for people who agree to take them. It is no different from sitti
by Retra 8y ago
My understanding is that the police use polygraphs simply as a 'primed' question-asking session for people who agree to take them. It is no different from sitting down and asking someone questions, except maybe they will believe you can tell that they are lying, and so might be more honest. The polygraph doesn't have to be evidence because your answers to questions are evidence by themselves. Whether you are hooked up to a polygraph is irrelevant.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago> Whether you are hooked up to a polygraph is irrelevant. I'm going to go with strongly disagree here.
- Retra 8y agoSo you're willing to argue that the output of a polygraph is evidence of something in absence of any responses you give during questioning?
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y agoI'm arguing that the idea that anyone is allowed to connect anything to me while they ask me questions is perverse, reprehensible, and absurd.
- hannasanarion 8y agoThe comment you replied to pointed out that they are voluntary.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y agoVoluntary is the sense of someone(s) in a position of authority or power asking if you're willing to submit to a voluntary procedure. I've be interviewed by police twice after being charged with crimes that carry potential prison sentences. The interviews are voluntary in the sense you're not required to answer any of the questions, and I could have chosen to wait in a cell for my lawyer to turn up days later ... but I volunteered to respond to each question by making a mockery of their questions and processes. These people in authority, they are not there to help you, with their badges and their guns and their attitude problems, and I don't believe it's possible for someone to "volunteer" when such a power imbalance exists. It's an absurd use of the word. You can't "volunteer" when the other person is carrying a gun.
- brokenmachine 8y agoAbsolutely you could have waited for a lawyer. You voluntarily decided not to. "voluntary" - done, given, or acting of one's own free will. You said yourself that you could have waited, but decided not to. Alternatively you could have just done a "no comment" interview, which - let's be honest - is what the lawyer would have advised you to do, no matter if you're guilty or not.
- Retra 8y agoThat has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. You can (and should) simply refuse to take any polygraphs. It will never work in your favor.
- brokenmachine 8y agoAlso "no comment, lawyer please" is a good answer for any question.
- owenmarshall 8y agoIn this respect they're not really any different from an officer administering a field sobriety test or a breathalyzer to someone they've stopped for a suspected DUI: these prime the suspect to give more information than legally required. And worse, these will provide opportunities for the state to build probable cause for a stop that otherwise might not exist.