Polygraph Examiners Unable to Discriminate True and False Juvenile Confessions.

We asked polygraph examiners to assess the credibility of confessions given by incarcerated juveniles. Eighty-three practicing polygraph examiners attending continuing education seminars made 664 true/false judgments and confidence estimates of the credibility of four true and four false confessions. Examiner judgments showed a slight truth bias with 61.8% of the true confessions correctly identified, but with 52% of the false confessions also believed. A believability index developed from judgments and confidence did not show a significant difference between true and false confessions. However, examiners with the Reid interrogation training found false confessions more believable than true confessions. Examiners without Reid training produced the opposite pattern. Our results suggest that Reid training is detrimental when assessing the credibility of juvenile confessions. As with adults, a high degree of caution in evaluating the credibility of confessions given by juveniles is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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