News - Polygraphs for Paedophiles
Jan. 13th, 2005 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackNews: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4172165.stm
Background: http://skepdic.com/polygrap.html
Well, it's not *inherently* a bad idea. Just because something doesn't work as a lie detector doesn't mean it couldn't be used helpfully in treatment of 'released' sex offenders. Any knowledge of someone's mind could help a councilor, provided it's not used to decide rights for parole, etc.
It even makes sense to use it against accused in some cases (if someone agrees to the procedure, ask "did you burgle house x" for many x, and if the spikes are where the burglaries were with the suspect having no plausible innocent way of knowing which, and the policeman no way, then that's indicitive. For something conclusive, you'd need a spike on a different house, and then go there and find it'd been burgled.)
But does anyone else have a voice in their head shouting REMEMBER NINETEEN EIGHTY FUCKING FOUR IT'S THE THIN END OF THE WEDGE?
One argument is that if you believe a lie detector works, then it's going to work a lot better, as you'll be nervous when you're lying. But since the facts are freely available on the internet, it's a bit late to bolt that stable door, neh?
Background: http://skepdic.com/polygrap.html
Well, it's not *inherently* a bad idea. Just because something doesn't work as a lie detector doesn't mean it couldn't be used helpfully in treatment of 'released' sex offenders. Any knowledge of someone's mind could help a councilor, provided it's not used to decide rights for parole, etc.
It even makes sense to use it against accused in some cases (if someone agrees to the procedure, ask "did you burgle house x" for many x, and if the spikes are where the burglaries were with the suspect having no plausible innocent way of knowing which, and the policeman no way, then that's indicitive. For something conclusive, you'd need a spike on a different house, and then go there and find it'd been burgled.)
But does anyone else have a voice in their head shouting REMEMBER NINETEEN EIGHTY FUCKING FOUR IT'S THE THIN END OF THE WEDGE?
One argument is that if you believe a lie detector works, then it's going to work a lot better, as you'll be nervous when you're lying. But since the facts are freely available on the internet, it's a bit late to bolt that stable door, neh?