Guest Speaker: James Earle
Polygraph Examiner and Former FBI Chief

      This month Rocky Mountain MWA members had the pleasure of meeting Dr. James Earle, former FBI Special Agent and FBI Chief Polygraph Examiner from 1984-1989, who has conducted over 9,500 polygraph examinations in his career. Dr. Earle spoke on the basics of conducting polygraph examinations, including the use of the three types of questions used in a polygraph - irrelevant, control/comparison, and relevant. Of course, test results are only as good as the questions asked, as it often is in other areas of legal discovery, and Dr. Earle covered both good and bad examples of each. He stated psychopaths, to our disbelief, are actually the best people in the world to test, as questions asked during a polygraph are not based upon feeling but on fact. We also discovered that though the polygraph has only been admissible in certain courts in the U.S. since 1993, it is entirely admissible in Mexico. Why? Consider this... statistics show polygraphs are 85-93% accurate. Compare that to an eyewitness, who is 65% reliable, and X-ray evidence which is 75% reliable. A good argument for admissibility? He also left us with some intriguing questions - what would happen if a polygraph were given to an amnesiac? Would they remember enough to know if they were lying or not? Good fodder for the next novel perhaps...

Have questions regarding the administration of polygraphs? Contact Dr. James Earle at earle.james@gmail.com.