Truth Serum And Lie Detectors

[robert551069]

If there is such a thing as truth serum which makes people tell the truth and I believe there is and I know from the Jeremy Kyle show that lie detector tests are over 90% accurate, I think that these two procedures could be used by the law courts to save time and money? Perhaps they don't use them as it would put them out of a job.

[rockyracoon]

And the 10% where the test is wrong?

[emmie]

this sounds more Stalinist Russia than the law courts of Britain.

[rockyracoon]

Hit submit too soon. As to the truth serum, I'm sure it wouldn't take too long for a concoction to come out to defeat it.

[rockyracoon]

It does Em, while we're at it, we could stick trackers in new borns and take there DNA before they leave the hospital.

[rockyracoon]

Doh, their, not there.

[joggerjayne]

Probably better than the 50% of witnesses who lie at the moment.

Sorry, I mean the 50% whose recollection is not quite as accurate as the other witnesses. The ones who were telling the truth.

[emmie]

i don't think we would want to go down this route, our system has it's flaws but it's better than most and infinitely better than what you are proposing.

[RATTER15]

A scary thought indeed, relying on something that is only 90% accurate.

[cassa333]

There is the thing that some people 'feel more guilty' emotionaly so could fail this sort of test.

[sandyRoe]

When the Americans wanted information from terrorist suspects they resorted to tried and tested methods. Water boarding loosens the tightest of tongues.

[aelmpvw]

psychopaths would love lie detectors to be used ... they can fool them easily

[EDDIE51]

As above some people can easily fool lie detectors . A habitual lier can even fool themselves that what they are saying is true and it will not show up on a lie detector.

[EDDIE51]

sandy, as has been proved over and over again under torture people will say exactly what the torturer wants them to say just to avoid more torture. This is why evidence obtained under torture can not be used in court (at least in the UK)

[pastafreak]

There is a 'truth serum'...I remember hearing way back when that sodium pentathol was/could be used as such.
From wiki-

Truth serum

Thiopental (Pentothal) is still used in some places as a truth serum to weaken the resolve of the subject and make them more compliant to pressure.[14] The barbiturates as a class decrease higher cortical brain functioning. Some psychiatrists hypothesize that because lying is more complex than telling the truth, suppression of the higher cortical functions may lead to the uncovering of the truth. The drug tends to make subjects loquacious and cooperative with interrogators; however, the reliability of confessions made under thiopental is questionable.[15] Sodium thiopental features as a truth serum in several Hollywood films, in comics and other literature, and even in popular music.[16]

[SeaJayPea]

Frankly, I wouldn't want to base UK law on anything that Jeremy Kyle claims to prove.

[rojash]

"I know from the Jeremy Kyle show that lie detector tests are over 90% accurate"

LOL.

[jake-the-peg]

Yup

That's the problem - 90% does not equate to beyond reasonable doubt does it?

[woofgang]

Robert, whicj planet are you from? There is no such thing as a truth serum. The nearest thing is sodium pentathol which relaxes and disinhibits thus making it harder to lie.
Lie detectors measure physical stress and can be beaten, also other forms of physical stress can be interpreted as lying.
As for the Jeremy Kyle show....of course that is a scientifically accurate TV program (rolls eyes)

[tonywiltshire]

The Polygraph (lie detector) has been around for over 90 years and measures some physical Attributes. In some courts outside the UK, with the agreement of all parties, it can be used but as has been stated it has been shown to be unreliable. I would consider it to be a retrograde step to admit the findings of a Polygraph into evidence in the UK.

[joko]

the problem with 'truth' is some people can unknowingly convince themselves that they are telling it.

i have had two friends over the years where this was abundantly evident - and i have to say it shocked me... how they could truly say something that blatantly had never happened ... their perceptions where just addled.
i am no longer friends with either of them - just coudlnt stand it, particularly when it affected me.

for instance, one of them saw my ex in the pub, and told him that i was always going on about him, that i missed him and wanted him back, and that he should come round and see me.
he wanted to, and was actually on his to my house!
she phoned me - all excited - and told me what she'd done, thinking i was going to be excited and grateful to her!
she honestly believed she'd done a good thing!
i had never, ever, said this, not once, even in the months after we split - because it most certainly wasnt true - i was very glad to split, and we'd been apart for about 8 years and i not interested whatsoever.
i was furious and told her she better tell him she was wrong, and she was genuinely confused and hurt!
she just said 'oh, i thought you wanted him back'

there were many other incidents - ones where she didnt have my best interests at heart, and i hate to think of the crap she was saying to people.

the other girl - i was sitting outside at a pub table with her and her boyfriend and he went to the toilet, just as i been about to, so i went seconds later - we both went indoors to the toilets.
i came out and she snidily accused me of only going in so i could meet him in the toilets! we had planned it apparently!
it got ridculous and i think i kind of thought she cant be serious, but i knew she was - sort of - but i was annoyed too, so i told her not to be so daft, then her man came back just as i was saying 'oh yeah thats right i met him in the toilets for a kiss', and he just caught that last bit and looked at me shocked - her face just fell and she stared at me, and suddenly tried to make it look like i had just said that out of the blue unprovoked!
when i said 'but you just accused me!' and told him what shed said - and she denied it.
i dont know whether she was trying to cause trouble, or that she did not want him to know that she had accused me, or that she genuinely felt i had said it unprovoked.
i'd have bet on it being just denial in front of him, but later on i spoke to her on the phone she even lied to me!
she said he was furious with me, just because he knows she hates things like that, and didnt undertsand why i would say such a thing, and she denied it again!
so it seemed like she had convinced herself...again this was one of many incidents, and i gave up on her too.

but the point is, i have no doubt that both of these girls would have passed a lie detector on these issues (and others) ... because a lie detector is not magic, it cannot detect the 'real truth', only the persons perception of the truth...the one they believe