How accurate is the polygraph?
U.S. Government studies have concluded that the single-issue (one question) polygraph exam, conducted properly by a qualified examiner, is 87 to 95 percent accurate. It is the most accurate tool available today for determining truth or deception. Accuracy of the multi-question exam drops to around 80 percent due to a number of psychological factors. These statistics do not include “inconclusive” results in which no opinion can be made from the polygraph charts, which happens about 20% of the time.
(back to top) U.S. Government studies have concluded that the single-issue (one question) polygraph exam, conducted properly by a qualified examiner, is 87 to 95 percent accurate. It is the most accurate tool available today for determining truth or deception. Accuracy of the multi-question exam drops to around 80 percent due to a number of psychological factors. These statistics do not include “inconclusive” results in which no opinion can be made from the polygraph charts, which happens about 20% of the time.
Hundreds of research studies of specific incident testing converge to an accuracy of over 90%. More importantly, the National Academy of Science, after reviewing numerous research studies have answered the question as to whether or not the polygraph can reliably tell truth tellers from deceivers. The answer is, Yes!
