I once spoke with a police officer many years ago about lie detectors. He told me when he joined the force back in the late 70's, the "seasoned" officers would sit a suspect down in a chair and hook wires to them. They would ask the suspect questions and then push a button. Amazingly a piece of paper would come out with an "X" on it telling the cops he was lying. In reality the officers had them hooked up to a photo copier and when they would push the button all it really did was send out a photo copy of the "X" they placed in it earlier. Not very legal.
Of course that's not what really happens. In the earlier societies they used many bizarre ways to prove someone was lying. The first instrument to measure the physical change in a person came from Cesare Lombroso who was an Italian criminologist. His device had the individual place their hand in a special sealed tank of water and this would measure physical changes to the pulse and blood pressure. Through the years improvements were made and the water was dropped and replaced by a blood pressure cuff and a galvanometer.
Although the lie detector (also known as a polygraph) is widely and frequently used it is still to this day a very controversial method.
Work cited:
BOOKRAGS STAFF. "Lie Detector". 2005. June 24 2009.
I have always liked the idea of lie detectors and any other invention that helps catch criminals. It is interesting to hear how they work and to see how they are used. The lie detector is probably one of the first advances in technology to help catch criminals. Inventions like these have made our world a better place by weeding out the criminals in our society and showing potential criminals that they will be caught.
ReplyDeleteGreta info on this device, reminds me of meet the parents. It is also amazing that with all the advances it's still not able to be used in court.
ReplyDeleteMany people though cracked when told they had to take a polograph test so I guess it pourpose has been worthwhile.