Question Formulation

in Polygraph
Question Formulation in Polygraph
• All polygraph questioning techniques that aim at some form of
standardization or reproducibility involve comparisons of physiological
responses to questions of central interest for the investigation or screening
(“relevant questions”) against physiological responses to other questions
(“comparison questions”).
• Questioning techniques may differ in the nature of the comparison questions,
the sequencing of questions, or the choice of which comparison questions in
a sequence of questions will be compared with which relevant questions.
• They are also typically associated with particular approaches to conducting
pre-test interviews and interpreting polygraph charts.
• Medical and Psychological History
Type of Questions

Relevant Question

Irrelevant Question

Sacrifice Question

Control Question
Irrelevant Question
• Irrelevant questions by definition have no connection to the matter
under investigation and therefore should pose no threat to the
suspect.
• they are questions to which neither innocent nor guilty suspects have
reason to lie to.
• They traditionally are background-type questions dealing with
information the examiner knows to be true.
• Yes answer.
• Some exceptional cases it require Yes and No both. IZCT
• Everyone is under investigation
• Neutral Questions are required – Establish Physiological Norms
• Normal Physiological pattern
• Cleve Backster has coloured it Yellow
Example
• Is your first name Rahul?… Yes.
• Were you born in the India?… Yes.
• Do you live in Punjab?… Yes.
• Is today Thursday? Yes.
• Is your last name Singh?… Yes.
• Are you in Ahmedabad right now?… No.
• Is today Monday?… No.
Relevant Questions
• Deals with the matter under investigation
• Real questions assigned to solve the case
• Should deal with single issue, short and direct.
• These questions must be formulated so that the innocent examinee
can answer them truthfully, while the guilty examinee is forced to lie
to them.
• Should threaten the guilty person and cause subsequent physiological
arousals to occur.
Example
• Did you commit that crime?
• Did you start that fire?
• Did you take that missing money from the safe?
• Did you shoot that man?
Medium Relevant Questions
• Relevant questions concerning secondary involvement
• Color-coded red over yellow
Example
• Did you conspire with anyone to commit that crime?
• Were you present when that crime took place?
• Did you help anyone commit that crime?
• Did you plan with anyone to commit that crime?
• Do you know for sure who committed that crime?
• Did you see who committed that crime?
• Did anyone tell you they committed that crime?
• Relevant questions should not contain any words which legalistic or
that are so emotional that the language itself may cue responses,
regardless of whether the person is lying or telling the truth
• Words like Kill, Rape and steal are avoided as it can create person
uncomfortable
• Avoid legal words too which can cause psychological changes like
bribe, extort
• Relevant questions should be short and focused
• Rationalization- justification of the Act
• Guilt and responsibilities are wide ranged situations and open ended
to interpretations
• The examinee can internalize guilt without being the perpetrator or
directly involved
• An examinee can feel responsible and yet not have performed the act
Hypothetical circumstances
• A boyfriend and girlfriend had a fight. She got out of the car
and walked away. The boyfriend left in anger but came back
for her, didn’t find her, and went home. Later he found out
that on her way home, she was raped and murdered. How
did the boyfriend feel? Did he see himself as responsible?
Did he feel guilt for his anger? If he had not given in to his
anger, she would not have gotten out of the car, and she
would still be alive.
• We have to deal with one issue at a time
• Imagine if the victim mentioned earlier had been raped by
one perpetrator but killed by his accomplice. The complex
relevant question “Did you rape and kill…?” could be
successfully denied by both, thus raising a second instance of
ambiguity. In a multiple issue crime, questioning should
focus on the most serious act first.
Theory of Cleve Backster
• A person will focus their mind on those questions in a polygraph test
that hold the greatest threat to his or her immediate general well-
being.
• Guilty party could fail to show deceptive reactions to what is
perceived as the lesser crime questions because he is waiting to be
asked about the more threatening one.- Anticlimactic dampening
• Deceptive suspect reacts more strongly to the relevant questions than
to the comparison questions, even though he is lying to both.
• Success and failure
• Relevant questions- force the guilty party to lie, Examiner should
know much about the crime and possibilities
• Questions should be well framed and clearly focused- generate the
tension- threaten the subject and can cause physiological changes
• More you know about the crime- more you will be prepared for the
examination
Sacrifice relevant
• Also known as pseudo-relevant, icebreaker, catchall, semirelevant,
and throwaway relevant
• Sound like important questions; however, they are actually used to
introduce an examinee into the test or take them out of the test,
rather than for determinations of truth or deception.
Example
• Do you intend to deliberately lie to any test question?
• Do you intend to answer every test question truthfully?
• Regarding whether you did the crime, do you intend to answer each
question truthfully about that?
• Did you deliberately do anything to try and beat this test?
Comparison Question
• The primary purpose of the comparison question is to threaten the innocent
examinee
• The question should be similar, in nature to the crime, or motivation of the crime,
but less severe.
• The comparison question is used for comparison with the relevant test questions.
• Each comparison questions should be formulated in a manner that the examiner
can be reasonably certain that the examinee is lying or unsure of his answer to
the question.
• Comparison questions should be answerable by “No.”
• Comparison questions should be broad in scope to ensure deception or create
doubt in the mind of the examinee as to their truthfulness.
Example
• In your entire life, did you ever steal?
• Have you ever broken the trust of a friend?
• Prior to entering the Army, did you ever steal?