NCJ Number
167456
Journal
Polygraph Volume: 25 Issue: 3 Dated: (1996) Pages: 225-242
Date Published
1996
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study was designed to assess whether or not the race of the polygraph examinee, the race of the examiner, or the interaction of the race of the examinee with the race of the examiner affected the outcome accuracies of Modified General Question Technique (MGQT) and Zone Comparison Test (ZCT) psychophysiological detection of deception (PDD) examinations.
Abstract
The study used 213 military examinees (50 African-American, 108 Caucasian, 52 Hispanic, and 3 other) and 168 civilian examinees (45 African-American, 110 Caucasian, 10 Hispanic, and 3 other). A total of 232 examinees were male, and 147 examinees were female. The examiners were three African-American, three Hispanic, and seven Caucasian student examiners from the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute Basic Polygraph Examiners Training Course. The students participated in the study during their 7th and 8th weeks and their 10th and 11th weeks in instruction. Students used standard field polygraph instruments and conducted ZCT format examinations during weeks 7 and 8 and conducted MGQT format examinations during weeks 10 and 11. A variety of scenarios (rape, murder, robbery) were used to program examinees to be guilty. Analyses of the data included an assessment of the effect of the race of the examinee on the accuracies of the examinations, the effect of the race of the examiner on the accuracies of the examinations, and the effect of the interaction of the race of the examinee and the race of the examiner on the accuracies of the examinations. Generally, there were no significant results. The accuracies of the examinations were not different based on the race of the examinee, the race of the examiner, nor the interaction of the races of the examinee and examiner. 30 tables