Newer Techniques and Recent Advances

1. POLYGRAPH –

A polygraph (‘lie detector’) is a device which makes a continuous record of several

physiological variables, such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiration and electrodermal
reaction*, while a series of questions are being asked, in an attempt to detect lies (as shown in
the figure below). The above measurements are believed to be indicators of anxiety due to
sympathetic stimulation that accompanies the telling of lies. However, if the subject exhibits
anxiety for other reasons, a measured response can result in unreliable conclusions.

*
It is also known as galvanic skin response (GSR), electrodermal response (EDR) or skin
conductance response (SCR)—a method of measuring the electrical conductance of the skin,
which varies with its moisture level.

• A polygraph test is also known as a psychophysiological detection of deception

(PDD) examination.

Figure: Polygraph Test

Procedure:

− There are two major testing techniques in use—the Relevant/Irrelevant Technique

(RIT) and the Control Question Technique (CQT).
− Polygraph test starts with a pre-test interview to gain some preliminary information
which will later be used for ‘control questions’ (CQ).
 − Some of the questions asked are ‘irrelevant’ or IR, others are ‘probable-lie’ control
questions that most people will lie about, and the remainder are the ‘relevant questions’,
or RQ, that the tester is really interested in. The different types of questions may
alternate.

Accuracy:

Examiners maintain that the accuracy is 90% and the errors tend to be false negative rather
than false positive, i.e. a person who actually lied is reported as ‘truthful’.

Admissibility of Polygraphs in the Court:

• While lie detector tests are commonly used in police investigations in the US, no
defendant or witness can be forced to undergo the test. The US Supreme Court left it
up to individual jurisdictions as to whether polygraph results could be admitted as
evidence in court cases.
• In most European jurisdictions, polygraphs are not considered reliable evidence and are
not generally used by police forces.
• In Canada, the use of a polygraph is sometimes employed in screening employees for
government organizations. However, in the 1987, the Supreme Court of Canada
rejected the use of polygraph results as evidence in the court.
• The Australian High Court has not yet considered the admissibility of polygraph
evidence.

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2. Brain Fingerprinting (Brain Mapping) –

Brain mapping is a group of neuroscience techniques based on the mapping of quantities or

properties (biological) onto spatial representations of the brain. While various brain imaging
techniques (e.g. CT, MRI, PET, SPECT) measure properties such as cerebral blood flow,
metabolism or structural integrity, QEEG [quantitative electroencephalography (EEG)]
measures electrical activity of the brain which is usually known as brain mapping. Brain
fingerprinting, invented by Lawrence Farwell, is a computer-based test that is designed to
discover, document and provide evidence of guilty knowledge regarding crimes. This test
detects the presence or absence of information and not guilt or innocence per se.
Procedure:

• An elastic cap (headband) with 19 electronic sensors is placed on the shaven scalp of
the subject and connected to the recording device that measures the EEG (as shown in
the figure below). The subject is shown stimuli consisting of sounds, words, phrases or
pictures on a computer screen.

Figure: Brain Mapping

• It detects responses to the stimuli related to the crime or other investigated situations.
The theory is that the suspect’s reaction to the details of an event or activity will reflect
if the suspect had prior knowledge of the event or activity. As the test is based on EEG
signals, it does not require the subject to issue verbal responses to questions or stimuli.

Principle:

Farwell’s brain fingerprinting originally used the P300* brain response (emitted from an
individual’s brain approximately 300 milliseconds after it is confronted with a stimulus of
special significance) to detect the brain’s recognition of the known information. Later, he used
the MERMER (‘Memory and Encoding Related Multifaceted Electroencephalographic
Response’), which includes the P300 and additional features and is reported to provide a
higher level of accuracy than the P300 alone.

*
The P300 is a specific ERP (event-related potential) that emerges approximately 300
milliseconds after the presentation of a stimulus.

Uses:

i. Criminal cases: Investigators use it to determine if a suspect is telling the truth or make
him reveal facts pertaining to a case.
 ii. Medical diagnosis: Brain functioning evaluation for early detection of Alzheimer’s and
other cognitive degenerative diseases.
iii. Advertisement: Evaluate the effectiveness of advertising by measuring brain
responses.
iv. National security: Screening employees, especially in military and foreign intelligence
and counterterrorism.
v. Insurance fraud.

Drawbacks:

The test may not be useful in a case in which:

• Two suspects were present at a crime—one as a witness and the other as a perpetrator.
• Investigators do not have sufficient information about a crime to test a suspect for
crime-relevant information stored in the brain.

Brain Fingerprinting vs Polygraph:

Since it depends only on information stored in the brain and cognitive brain responses, brain
fingerprinting does not depend on the subject’s emotions, nor is it affected by emotional
responses. Brain fingerprinting fundamentally differs from the polygraph as it measures
emotion-based physiological signals. Also, unlike polygraph testing, it does not attempt to
determine whether or not the subject is lying or telling the truth.

Legal Aspects:

• An Iowa Court in the US accepted brain fingerprinting as scientific evidence in the

reversal of the murder conviction of Terry Harrington.
• Data from Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature (BEOS) profiling has been
admitted as evidence in the court in a murder trial in India.
• There has been not even a single case in which the court has convicted a subject based
only on the brain fingerprinting results. In fact, in the cases, wherein the results of such
tests were positive but were not supported by other oral or documentary evidence, the
subjects in those cases have been acquitted of the charges against them.

NOTE:

• Brain Signature Profiling (BSP) or BEOS is another EEG procedure that was
developed in 2003 by CR Mukundan and is similar to brain fingerprinting.
 • In the case mentioned above, the woman was convicted of murdering her former fiancé
based on the BEOS profile. But subsequently, the Mumbai High Court suspended her
sentence and released her on bail due to a lack of sufficient evidence.

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3. Narco-Analysis –

Definition: It is a scientific procedure to obtain information from an individual in a natural

sleep-like state.

Principle: The narco-analysis procedure dwells upon the effect of bio-molecules on the
bioactivity of an individual.

• A person can lie by using his imagination. During the test, the subject’s imagination is
neutralized by making him semi-conscious. In this state, it becomes difficult for him to
lie, and his answers would be restricted to facts he is already aware of.
• The subject is not in a position to speak up on his own but can answer specific and
simple questions.
• In such a sleep-like state, efforts are made to obtain ‘probative truth’ about the crime.

Procedure: The individual is put into a trance-like state and loses all his inhibitions by
administering sodium amytal or thiopentone sodium, (known as ‘truth drug’ or ‘truth
serum’) 2.5–5% solution, slow IV.

Other Methods:

• 0.5 mg scopolamine hydrobromide (commonly used) subcutaneously, followed by 0.25

mg every 20 minutes (average 3-6 injections), till the proper stage of questioning is
reached.
• 100 mg sodium seconal, 15 mg morphine and 0.5 mg of scopolamine hydrobromide
may be given IV.

The dose is dependent on the person’s sex, age, health and physical condition. A wrong dose
can result in a person going into a coma or even death.

The team required: A team comprising of an anaesthetist, psychiatrist, clinical/forensic

psychologist, audio-videographer and supporting nursing staff does the test. The forensic
psychologist will prepare the report about the revelations which will be accompanied by a
compact disc of audio-video recordings.

Legal Aspects:

• The Supreme Court has recently declared that narcoanalysis, polygraph tests and brain
mapping cannot be done without the consent of the individual. If the person consents to
such methods, then any information obtained can be used for further probe. The results
of such tests will not be admissible as evidence, even if done with consent.
• Use of such methods is illegal and against the constitution. As per Article 20(3) of the
Constitution, ‘No person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness
against himself’. Therefore, a suspect of the crime cannot be compelled to disclose facts
which he can recall from his memory, and likely to implicate him in a crime in which
he was involved.

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