United States v. Wright

I dissent.

Under the theme of the principal opinion, the results of a lie detector test would appear to be clearly admissible. A trained polygraph operator can undoubtedly qualify as an expert in his field. The polygraph machine itself has also “experimentally and in practical application, demonstrated a high degree of accuracy.” See In-bau and Reid, Lie Detection and Criminal Interrogation, 3d ed. Nevertheless, it has been unanimously rejected by the courts as evidence, on the basis that it has not been shown to be generally accepted as reliable in the scientific community. It is by that…