PSYC 3020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Jury Nullification, Polygraph, Psychopathy Checklist
20 Oct 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The polygraph technique: first used in china over 200 years ago. People were instructed to eat a bowl of dry rice, and informed if proven innocent they would have no difficulty swallowing the food. In canada, the police use them to help in criminal investigations. Restricted private companies from using the polygraph for screening prospective employees: some governmental agencies in the u. s and canada still use the polygraph as screening tools. Innocent suspects are assumed to react more to comparison questions than relevant. I. e. did you kill the person with: a knife, an axe, a handgun, a crowbar, a rifle, guilty suspect is assumed to to display larger physiological response to the correct option. Indicators of guilt are not available, therefore are difficult to establish. Judicial outcomes - problematic bc some people are falsely convicted and some guilty people are not convicted: confessions - problematic bc some people falsely confess.
