Lie Detectors

With such failure and costs sky rocketing into the stratosphere the American people should be looking for a much simpler and reliable way to prosecute criminals.

Polygraphs have been used for years to detect lies and truth. Current devices are near at 100% percent accuracy. Critics who usually do not understand how the device works and all ready have their minds set that these devices are easy to fool put them in the 70% area of reliability.

The area of turmoil is really in the area of the examiner who could be inexperienced and be reading the data wrong. A doctor could look at an X-ray and see nothing and another doctor could see a problem. The cost of multiple testing and examiners has to be far less then a court battle, and could narrow the error margin.

There have also been steps into the realm of Functional MRI's to detect lies by monitoring brain functions during the test. It's creators put the device at a 90% accurate range. The cost is fie thousand dollars for a screening. That is still lower then the courts.

If these two tests were done and they showed that someone was a liar overwhelmingly would anyone dispute the findings? I think they would because its technology and everyone is afraid of it being used in this fashion. We hold our grasp on a system that has sent people to jail for doing nothing.

What if the devices were right though? Wouldn't hundreds of thousands of people be out of work, from lawyers, judges and bailiffs? No more need for jurors or large beautiful buildings to house it all in. We would still need some judges to prescribe some punishment and guards in place. I can't tell if this is a good idea or a bad idea.