FORENSIC 105

LIE DETECTION TECHNIQUE

CHAPTER 1
THE DEVELOPMENT
OF POLYGRAPH
 UNIT 2
EARLY METHODS OF
DETECTING DECEPTION
 Ordeal, Trial or Judicium Dei is a common method of deciding guilt or innocence
and a practice of referring disputed questions to the judgment of God, determined
by various means, particularly by physical tests.
 It is a semi-magical method of determining guilt of innocence which goes right
back to pre-historic times through many cultures.

 Here are the examples of Ordeals:

RED HOT IRON ORDEAL

 Practiced in the hill tribe of north Bengal. The accused had to carry a bar of red
hot iron in his hands while he walked nine marked paces.. Another is the suspect
will run barefooted and blind folded over a nine red-hot iron, after that the hand or
foot will be cover up and inspected in three days afterward. If the accused had
escape unhurt, the person was pronounce innocent, if hurt, the person was guilty.
ORDEAL BY BALANCE

 Practiced in Vishnu, India. A scale of balance is used, in one end of the scale the
accused is placed and in the other end is a counter balance. The person will step
out of the scale and listen to a judge to deliver an exhortation on the balance and
get back in. If he was found lighter than before, then he should be acquitted, if
not,, if the weight remains the same or he became heavier, then he is guilty.
ORDEAL BY WATER

 In this type of ordeal, the water was symbolic of the flood of the Old Testament,
washing sin from the face of the Earth, allowing only the righteous minority to
survive.
 There are two kinds of ordeal by water the boiling water and the cold water.
BOILING WATER ORDEAL

 This ordeal is consisted of lifting a stone out of a boiling water, with the hand
inserted as deep as the wrist. More serious offenses demanded that arm was
submerged up to the elbow. The burn was bandaged for three days before
examination. If the accused had escape unhurt, the person was pronounce
innocent, if hurt, the person was guilty.
COLD WATER ORDEAL

 In this ordeal, the accused was tied at feet and hands and was lowered to cold
water by rope. This rope is tied around the accused waist and had a knot in the
rope. If both knot and accused dipped beneath the surface of the water, the
accused was proven innocent. If the knot is dry or if the water refused to receive
him, hi is guilty.
ORDEAL BY RICE CHEWING

 It is perform with a kind of rice called sathee, prepared with various spells. The
person on trial eats the sathee, with the face to the east and the spits upon a pea
leaf. If saliva is mixed with blood, he is declared to be a liar. Indians practice this
ordeal.
Ordeal by Combat

 The aggrieved party claimed to fight the alleged offender or to pay a champion to
fight for him. The victor is said to win not by his own strength but because of
supernatural powers that had intervened on the side of the right, in which the
judgment of God was thought to determine the winner. If still alive after the
combat, the loser might be hanged or burned for a criminal offense.
ORDEAL BY CORSNAED (BLESSED
BREAD)
 A priest puts a corsnaed or hallowed bread into the mouth of the accused, with
various spoken curse. If the accused swallowed it he was freed from punishment
TEST OF THE EUCHARIST

 This was applied chiefly among the clergy and monks. When they the host it was
believed that God would smite the guilty with sickness or death. Others believed
that if the accused is innocent, when given a poisonous drink for him to take in,
Angel Gabriel will descend from heaven to prevent the accused from taking in the
poisonous drink.
ORDEAL OF THE BIER

 It was an ancient belief that the slain dead could point out their killer. In England,
it is customarily for the accused to approach the bier where the corpse lay. In the
view of the witness, the wounds of the victim were observed to see if they began
to bleed again. They believed that murderer is near, which causes the flood to
flow out from the wounds of the victim.
ORDEAL OF THE NEEDLE

 A red hot iron needle was made to pierced the lower lip of the alleged criminal
and if blood flowed from the wound, he was deemed guilty, but if none, he is
innocent. Wanaka, Eastern Africa practiced this ordeal.
ORDEAL BY HEAT AND FIRE

 The accused walked barefooted over a red hot coals, or was deemed to walk
through fire, if he was unharmed by fire he was considered innocent.
TRIAL OF THE CROSS

 The accuser and the accused were placed under the cross with their arms extended
or crosswise and the first to move his hands or suffer them to fall was held guilty
or liar.
TRIAL OF THE WAXEN SHIRT

 The accused was dressed in cloth covered with wax and walked barefooted over
burning coals. If he was unhurt by the fire and the wax did not melt, he was
considered innocent.
DONKEY’S TAIL ORDEAL

 As a psychological theory, a donkey is placed in a room alone and observed. Then

one by one, the accused and the accuser will enter the room. If the donkey cried a
judgment of guilt in crimes, is pressured. It is believed the deep inside one’s
conscience, he is guilty.
ORDEAL OF THE TIGER

 The accused and the accuser are placed inside a cage of a tiger, if the tiger spare
one of them hi is considered innocent.
BURMA

 The ordeal being practice by this country is the two contesting party, the accused
and the accuser are furnished with candles with equal size and lighted
simultaneously, the owner of the candle that outlast the other is the winner.
BORNEO

 The accuser and the accused were presented a shellfish placed on the plate. An
irritating fluid was then poured on the shellfish and the litigant whose shellfish
moved first was adjudged the winner.
GREECE

 A suspended axe was spun in the center of group of suspects. Soon the axe
stopped, whoever was in the line with the axe blade was supposed to be guilty out
by divine providence.
Nigeria

 The priest greased a cock's feather and pierced the tongue of the accused. If
feather passed through the tongue easily, the accused was deemed innocent. If not,
the accused is guilty. Another method practiced in the same country is the pouring
of corrosive liquid into the eyes of the accused who was supposed to be unharmed
if innocent. Pouring of boiling oil over the hand of the accused with the usual
requisites for guilt or innocence is also practiced. In the middle of the 13th
century the ordeal had died out in England and on the other Continents.
FORENSIC 105

LIE DETECTION TECHNIQUE

CHAPTER 1
THE DEVELOPMENT
OF POLYGRAPH
 UNIT 3
HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND OF
POLYGRAPH
 In the middle of 19th century, Dr. Hans Gross defined “search for truths” as a basis
and goal of all criminal investigations. He stated, “a large part of criminal work is
nothing more tha a battle against lies.
ANGELO MOSSO (1895)

 He studied fear and its influence on the heart.

 He developed the sphygmomanometer, this instrument was designed to measure
the flow of blood while a person lay on his back in a prone position.
CESARE LOMBROSO (1936-1909)

 He employed the first scientific instrument to detect deception, which is known as

hydrosphymograph, this instrument measures changes in pulse and blood pressure
when suspects were asked about their involvement in or knowledge of specific
response.
 He was accorded the distinction of being the first person to utilize an instrument
for the purpose of detecting lies.
WILLIAN MOULTON MARSTON
(1915)
 He was considered as the father of modern polygraphy. He experimented the
blood pressure, respiration and skin resistance as the basis for the responses of a
person and can be use in detecting lies.
JOHN LARSON (1921)

 He devised the very first practical polygraph in 1921. His instrument gave a
continuous recording of blood pressure and respiration.
 He devised the first two recording channel polygraph in the history.
LEONARDE KEELER

 He invented the “Keeler Polygraph” which is an improvement of Larson’s

apparatus. This apparatus was with components for recording, blood pressure,
pulse and respiratory changes. A galvanometer what is known as the galvanic skin
reflex generally referred to as GSR.
VITTORIO BENUSSI (1914)

 He detected deception with a pneumography, an instrument that graphically

measures the inhalation and exhalation.
 He presented a paper before the second meeting of the Italian Society for
Psychology in Rome, on the subject of his experiments regarding respiratory
symptoms of lying.
HAROLD BURTT (1918)

 He determine that respiratory changes were indication of deception. He found out

that changes in blood pressure were of greater value in determining deception
than in changes in respiratory.
LUIGI GALVANI

 He is an Italian physiologist who was accorded the distinction for developing

galvanic skin reflex (GSR) of the galvanometer, which records electrical bodily
resistance, it reflected emotional changes by measuring changes in person skin
resistance to electricity.
STICKER (1897)

 He made the first suggestion for using galvanograph for detecting deception based
on the works of several predecessors.
Veraguth (1897)

 He was the first one to use the ter "psychogalvanic reflex". He believed that the
electrical phenomenon is due to the activity of sweat glands.
Keeler (1942)

 He developed the "relevant- irrelevant test. The theory of this test is that guilty
reacts only to relevant questions and innocent shows no reactions. He added the
"personally embarrassing question" ((EPQ) to his relevant - irrelevant technique,
which was designed to elicit a reaction only from the innocent subject, reasoning
that the guilty would be still more concerned with the relevant or crime question.
However, it was found that both the innocent and the guilty reacted to the
question. He included control questions or "surprise question that serve the same
purpose as the EPQ. Although EPQ apparently ceased in 1951. The surprise
control question is still part of some relevant/irrelevant technique used today.
Keeler is also credited with introducing the "card test and specialized in "peak of
tension
John E. Reid (1950)

 developed the "reviewed control question consisting of a known lie incorporated

into relevant - irrelevan test. The theory of the test is to stimulate the innocent
subject, identify the general nervous tension and guilt complex reactor and to
improve contract between innocent and guilty subjects.
SIR JAMES MCKENZIE (1960)

 He invented the ink in the polygraph.

 A famous heart specialist. It was said that polygraph exist as early as 1906 but it is
not being used to detect deception.
Vittorio Benussi (1913)

 presented a paper before the second meeting of the Italian Society for Psychology
in Rome, on the subject of his experiments regarding respiratory symptoms of
lying.
RICHARD O. ARCHER (1953)

 The first polygraphist to record simultaneously on a regular basis the chest and
abdominal breathing patterns. He was also the first on to record simultaneously
two galvanic skin reflexes.
RICHARD I. GOLDEN (1969)

 He presented a paper at the annual seminar of American polygraph association at

Houston, Texas regarding his experiments using existing control question
techniques but requiring the subject to answer each question twice. The first time
truthfully and the second time with a lie, for the purpose of requiring additional
data from the examinee by comparing his subjective truthful answer with a known
lie to the same question.
Francis Galton (1879)

 He developed the much acclaimed psychological test known as the Word

Association Test, whereby the patient is presented with group of words
sufficiently separated in time to allow the patient to utter his first thought
generated each word. Dr. Carl Guztav Jung later déveloped the work experiment
of Galton.
Allen Bell (1972)

 He is an American inventor who develope device called Psychological Stress

Evaluator (PSE). This instrume detects slight trembling in the voice, which maybe
interpreted determine if person is telling the truth.
ANTON MESMER

 In 1778, he was the first one to introduce hypnotism as a method of detecting

deception.