Abstract

Since the dawn of humanity, it has been a very characteristic of every human being to lie. The necessity for lying may be for any reason. It may be to protect oneself or loved ones, or it may be for any gain, etc. The criminal justice system's focus has always been to establish the true facts before the court of law. Now, what is the best way to know the truth than to see the truth from the accused himself? Thus came the lie detector test. This device works on the presumption that a person telling the truth would have a different physiological change than someone lying. This device has been used routinely in many criminal investigations, even though it has been banned in certain countries. Its use in criminal investigation and its evidentiary value remains highly debatable. In this paper, the researcher will analyse why polygraph results hold very little or no evidentiary value in criminal trials.

Keywords