Lie Detectors - A Solution For Doping And Integrity In Sport?

Lance Armstrong's lawyer said he is in favour of polygraph testing but do not expect lie detectors in sport any time soon

"A lie detector test properly administered, I'm a proponent of that frankly, just personally. I wouldn't challenge a lie detector test, with good equipment, properly administered." Tim Herman, lawyer for Lance Armstrong, 14 October 2012.

Given this widely-reported statement by Lance Armstrong's lawyer and the acceptance of polygraph evidence by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for the first time in the case of the Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador1, the use of lie detectors in sport has come under increased scrutiny. Could polygraph testing offer a solution for sport's doping and integrity issues?

A polygraph measures and records a stress response automatically generated by a person when questioned. Following an analysis of results, an expert delivers an opinion on whether the individual is telling the truth.

A comprehensive and independent report into the issue was published by the United States National Academy of Sciences in 20032. It presents a number of conclusions to support the theory that polygraph results are inaccurate and unreliable.

The report found that the accuracy of polygraph testing stands between 81 and 91% and concluded: "We have reviewed the scientific evidence on the polygraph with the goal of assessing its validity for security uses, especially those involving the screening of substantial numbers of government employees. Overall, the evidence is scanty and scientifically weak ... Almost a century of research in scientific psychology and physiology provides little basis for the expectation that a polygraph test could have extremely high accuracy."

Even polygraph experts limit their claims of accuracy to at best 90%3 or 95%4. Polygraph evidence has been ruled inadmissible in a number of common law jurisdictions including Canada5, New Zealand6 and Jamaica7. As yet, there is no English authority on the subject8.

The use of polygraph testing is likely to become more common in criminal proceedings in this country following the introduction of the Offender Management Act 2007 relating to registered sex offenders9. The legislation will give the probation service in England and Wales new powers to polygraph test convicted, high-risk sex offenders on a mandatory basis. It is important to note that polygraph evidence obtained from such tests will not admissible in court10.

The only sports in which polygraph...