Polygraph Testing - Forensic Psychophysiology

CFN's polygraph services (forensic psychophysiology) are primarily for Lawyers, Corporate Business Enterprises and Government Agencies; our examiners are full members of the American Polygraph Association, and based in the UK. We also host fully accredited American Polygraph Association examiner courses, conducted by Horowitz-Ginton Credibility Assessment Academy; the instructors Dr Avital Ginton and Ishayahu (Sigi) Horwitz have a combined experience of 70 years; course dates, application procedures and fees information are available upon request for the academic year starting 30th November 2009; the proposed venue is Manchester Metropolitan University.

The polygraph is used as an investigative or forensic technique, which forms part of the investigation, and never implemented in isolation. We take instructions regarding private individual cases only through a legal representative, although exceptions can be made on a case by case basis; disputes between intimates do not fall within our operational scope. The most commonly requested uses are for criminal and civil matters, government and law enforcement, pre-employment screening, commercial theft investigations and to monitor convicted sex offenders on parole, and while in treatment (polygraph procedures on released sex offenders should be limited to risk management only and never be used as evidential material for breach of licence conditions, revocation of licence and imprisonment). Currently polygraph evidence cannot be used in British Criminal Courts, however, it can be submitted for civil or tribunal cases. More recent developments include the monitoring of domestic-violence offenders and the deployment of polygraph in programmes for drunk-driving offenders and drug and alcohol offenders. Polygraph examinations can be conducted in most major cities of the UK, including, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Newcastle, Cardiff and Belfast; together with most capital cities in Europe, and internationally. CFN operates in association with American Polygraph Services, under the direction of John Patterson, BS, CCE, covering Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. The following areas have used polygraph examinations successfully:

What is a Polygraph?

The polygraph instrument consists of a physiological recorder which typically assesses three aspects of autonomic arousal: heart rate/blood pressure, respiration and skin conductivity - sweat gland activity. At CFN these measures are recorded electronically using a computerized system. The rate and depth of respiration is measured by two pneumographs which are surround the examinee's upper and lower chest. The skin conductivity is measured through electrodes placed on the fingers of one hand. Cardiovascular activity is measured directly by either a blood pressure cuff, or, a fingercuff assembly. the Fingercuff is a recent development and affords more comfort to the examinee when prolonged assessments are required. Skin temperture can also be recorded which appears to be correlated with autonomic arousal and deception. Changes in these physiological functions are involuntary and are the result of emotional stress; thus by monitoring these bodily responses, any changes that occur as a reaction to questioning can be observed; sometimes referred to as Forensic Psychophysiology.

The examinations will be conducted in a quiet room, free from any distractions or outside noise. Only the examiner and the examinee are allowed in the testing area, and the whole session is recorded both with video and audio. Click here for more about polygraph:

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