A person in Indiana who had been teaching people how to cheat at polygraph tests, has now been sentenced to eight months in prison. Chad Dixon, the federal prosecutors claimed, had posted a threat to the national security by teaching such techniques.
Polygraph tests are inadmissible evidence at most of the courts. However, the federal prosecutors have premised their case on the assumption that these tests are perfectly accurate and through that, have tried to establish that Dixon is the culprit here.
The police alleges that Dixon has trained 70 to 100 people, each of whom was charged $1000 for one day’s work. It is also alleged that he trained certain federal personnel, one belonging to FBI, who were then able to cheat their ways through polygraph tests.
The problem with such prosecution is that it is a slippery slope and by slapping Dixon with eight months, the court has set an unfortunate precedent. If teaching other how to lie is considered a federal offense, this can be manipulated to settle personal scores.
The incident also raises many questions about polygraph tests. In the first place, they are not accurate enough and so, are dismissed by most courts in the U.S. Secondly, if the federal prosecutors are to be believed in this case, a polygraph test can be easily fooled. This further weakens the case of polygraph tests and cites how inadequate these tests are.
Courtesy: Seattle Times
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