Using a polygraph in the interests of the state and commercial security.
(based on publications by Yu.I.Kholodny, V.V.Korovina, V.A.Varlamov, O.V.Belyushina, A.A.Stepanov and others)
Polygraph (lie detector). History and modern times.
With this article we would like to begin a series of publications on the problem of the polygraph, or in common parlance, the «lie detector». There is much that is mythical, unclear, and at first glance even implausible in this matter. Our average citizen is well informed that such a device exists, that it supposedly detects lies, and that it is used by the special services of many countries. Some immediately begin to recall our famous film «The Fate of a Resident», in which the actor Nozhkin easily passes the test on it. And as a rule, this is where knowledge of the polygraph ends.
HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE METHOD.
Let's start with the fact that the problem of detecting lies has always worried people. In ancient times, they resorted to various rituals, «God's courts», to catch a liar and establish the truth. Our historian N.M. Karamzin describes these events as follows: «The ancient Russians, like other peoples, used iron and water to expose criminals — a reckless and cruel custom.» The accused took a hot iron in his bare hand or took a ring out of boiling water with it, after which the judges had to tie it up and seal it. If after three days there was no ulcer or mark on the skin, then innocence was proven.
History has also brought to us other, less cruel tests «for truth». It has been found that in a person who has committed a crime, during interrogation, the fear of exposure causes certain changes in his psychophysiological functions. For example, in ancient China, a person suspected of lying was subjected to a rice test. He had to take a handful of rice in his mouth and listen to the accusation. It was assumed that if the rice remained dry (from the fear of exposure, salivation stopped), the guilt of the suspect was considered proven. American traveler D. Wright, who was personally present at the «lie detection» in one of the tribes of West Africa, describes this event as follows:
«…The sorcerer…pointed to several people standing to the side. They were pushed into the center of the circle. The sorcerer turned to the leader and said:
—One of these people is a thief.
…The sorcerer stepped forward and handed the nearest of the six accused a small bird's egg. Its shell was so delicate that it seemed transparent. It was clear that the slightest pressure would crush the egg. The sorcerer ordered the suspects to pass the egg from one to another — whoever was guilty would crush it and thereby expose himself. When the egg reached the fifth, his face suddenly twisted into a grimace of horror, and the telltale yolk flowed between his fingers. The unfortunate man stood with his hand outstretched, from which the shell fell to the ground, and his trembling lips muttered a confession.»
This example perfectly characterizes such a psychophysiological phenomenon during fear of exposure as involuntary muscle contraction.
The Italian physiologist Masso, while measuring the blood pressure and pulse of his patient, noticed a sharp increase in their indicators. He asked her to explain what she was thinking at that moment. The patient said that when she saw the skull standing on the far shelf in the doctor's office, she involuntarily thought about her illness and its negative outcome. Similar experiments by Masso in 1877 led him to the idea that «if fear is an essential component of lying, then such fear can be isolated.» These ideas led to research using primitive devices aimed at detecting information hidden by a person through psychophysiological reactions.
The famous Italian criminologist C. Lombroso was the first to put this method to the service of the police. Incidentally, he was probably the first to describe a case in 1902 that allowed an innocent suspect to be acquitted. A certain Tosetti was suspected of committing a brutal murder of a girl. When presented with photographs of the murdered children, the device did not record any psychophysiological deviations, including when shown a photograph of the girl's corpse. Thus, it was confirmed that monitoring human physiological reactions can not only lead to the detection of hidden information, but, no less importantly, also help establish the innocence of the suspect.
The most active use of the method began in the 1920s in the United States. California police officer D. Larson designed a device that allowed continuous recording of blood pressure, pulse and respiration. However, the decisive contribution to the development of this method was made by criminologist L. Keeler, Larson's assistant and student. He was the first to: design a polygraph specifically designed to reveal information hidden by a person (1933); develop a polygraph test method (1935); founded a specialized company for the serial production of these devices and a school for training polygraph operators (1938). Thus, this method began to increasingly become a part of the practice of law enforcement agencies and a number of federal agencies in the United States. In the 50-60s, polygraph tests began to be actively carried out in the private sector, and by the mid-80s, there were already more than 5,000 polygraph operators in the United States, conducting about 2 million tests.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLYGRAPH IN OUR COUNTRY.
Well, what about our country? The initiator of the development of this direction in the 20s in the USSR is A.R. Luria. He worked in the laboratory of experimental psychology at the Moscow provincial prosecutor's office. But his work in this area was not destined to take its rightful place. Despite the encouraging results achieved, research in this direction was soon stopped. Prosecutor General A.Ya. Vyshinsky, speaking on the problem of evidence in Soviet criminal proceedings, lashed out with sharp criticism of this method. Thus, the negative attitude towards polygraph tests, formed in the pre-war years, was not based on any scientific data and was entirely due to ideological motives.In the post-war period, rarely appearing works from abroad on the polygraph also caused sharp negativity. The sharp increase in tests on the «lie detector» in the USA that followed in the early 50s did not attract the attention of Soviet forensic or psychological science. And only in the 60s did a different position begin to form regarding tests on this device, calling on legal experts, lawyers, criminologists, psychologists to stop declaring this method unscientific and reactionary without evidence and without grounds.
The first to come into contact with this idea after Luria was academician P.V. Simonov, who was engaged in the information theory of emotions in the early 70s. The scientist stated that «the effectiveness of modern methods for identifying emotionally significant objects is beyond doubt. Like medical examination and investigative experiment, these methods can be an auxiliary method of investigation, speed it up and thereby contribute to the solution of the main task of justice: eliminating impunity for offenses.»
Unfortunately, the works of Simonov, Voronin, Zlobin, and Yani were once again subjected to fierce attacks in the early 1970s by the same opponents who had criticized this method before the war. And the problem of polygraph tests disappeared from the pages of the domestic press for another 10 years.
In general, the esteemed reader can see that the «polygraph problem» in our country has gone through the same painful path as cybernetics and genetics. The lack of reliable scientific information about this method inevitably led to a distorted idea of the essence of polygraph tests and their real capabilities.
The situation in this matter changed significantly in the 90s. In March 1993, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Justice of Russia opened the way to the use of the psychophysiological method «Lie Detection» in the activities of federal agencies carrying out operational-search activities. The polygraph began to be used more and more often by commercial structures and banks. Several companies appeared in Russia that mastered the production of computer polygraphs.
POLYGRAPH AT THE PRESENT STAGE.
It is interesting to note that over the years, the polygraph, having undergone changes in its design, has remained fundamentally the same device as half a century ago.
A modern polygraph is a specialized medical and biological device designed to simultaneously record several physiological processes: respiration, cardiovascular activity, galvanic skin response, etc. It is widely used in clinical practice and scientific research. A more correct name for this device would probably not be a «lie detector», but a «psychological stress meter».
As you have already understood, the device records the appearance of reactions to specially formulated and combined in a certain sequence questions. Assessing the magnitude of these reactions by formal features, the polygraph operator (or polygraph examiner) according to existing calculation methods comes to the conclusion about the concealment of this or that information by the subject. The polygraph is needed in this case only as an unbiased witness of some rapidly flowing physiological changes in the body of the person being tested.
For all countries using the polygraph, there is a single principle of examination on the device — the principle of voluntariness. If a person refuses such an examination, then it is strictly forbidden to force him to undergo a polygraph test: the polygraph examiner begins the examination only after receiving written consent from the person being tested to conduct this procedure. How the customer will evaluate such a refusal — this is another question, not within the competence of the polygraph operator.
By the way, increased requirements are applied to a polygraph examiner, especially to his professional and moral qualities. The «Code of Ethics» of the American Polygraph Association states that any member of this association is obliged to «respect the inherent dignity of man: to communicate with each person being tested honestly, fairly and impartially, regardless of social, political, racial, ethnic and religious affiliation, economic status and physical characteristics». In performing his professional duties, the operator must «make his decisions and draw conclusions (based on the results of the work performed) exclusively freely, regardless of any personal financial, political, family, social or other external influences». It is probably no coincidence that the Association's emblem bears the motto: «Devoted to the Truth.»
USE OF THE POLYGRAPH IN THE WORLD.
As you have already understood from the above, the United States of America is the leader in conducting polygraph tests.
Lie detection specialist Yu.I.Kholodny provides the following data on the use of this method in various countries around the world.
The second largest user of polygraph tests after the United States is Canada. Information obtained using a polygraph is not accepted as evidence in court proceedings. The polygraph is actively used in personnel checks in administrative bodies and in production. Since 1978, polygraph operators have been trained at special courses at the Canadian Police College.
Japan ranks third in the number of polygraph operators. The police in this country adopted it more than forty years ago and are currently the leading users of this method. Since 1959, the results of detection have been accepted as evidence in lower courts, and by the early 1970s they began to be considered by the Supreme Court at the discretion of the judge. Since the mid-1970s, the police have carried out up to 5,000 tests annually. According to American experts, the National Institute of Police Science in Tokyo conducts more research in the field of lie detection than any other laboratory in the world.
The introduction of the method in Israel began in the mid-1950s. A quarter of a century later, it was already widely used by regional and military police. By the early 1980s, the first polygraph operators appeared, offering their services in the private sector. In Israel, the results of polygraph tests are not evidence, but serve only as a guide when conducting operational investigative activities. Israel is the fourth country to train operators for its own needs and for other user countries.
In India, the polygraph first came to attention in connection with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The government sent a police officer to the United States to attend a polygraph training school. However, it was not until 1969 that the Indian government established a polygraph department at the Central Crime Laboratory of the Central Bureau of Investigation. Since 1974, the method has been gradually introduced into practice. In recent years, about 3,000 tests have been conducted.
Among the Eastern European countries, Poland was the first to use the polygraph. Since 1963, the method has been used to investigate criminal cases and evaluate the results of the investigation. This direction is supported by a special Decision of the Supreme Court of the country. For decades, the Polish journal «Problems of Criminalistics» has published articles on the theoretical, applied and legal aspects of polygraph tests. In recent years, the centers of research on the topic of tests have been the Torun and Krakow universities.
According to experts, by the early 1970s, the polygraph, in addition to the countries listed, was used in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Iran, Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines. Several years later, it was noted that the device was used in Yugoslavia, and the test results were accepted by courts in Switzerland, but not as the only or main evidence in a case. South Korea trains its operators in the United States or Japan. By the early 1990s, there were already more than fifty operators in Turkey. Employees of the Saudi Arabian National Guard and the Singapore Police received special training from American specialists.
Interest in the method has also emerged in the countries of the former USSR. In particular, targeted research has been conducted in Estonia by the University of Tartu, which has resulted in the creation of a computer-based polygraph.
As can be seen from the above, the polygraph not only exists, but also has a promising future, hopefully in our country, and not just around the world.