The Application Of The Technology And Results Of Lie-Detection In Criminal Litigation

From ancient times mankind has been exploring varied ways to determine the falsity of lies. In the ancient past, methods of lie-detection remained very subjective because relevant scientific understandings and technologies were scarce. Whereas, in modern times, there have been many breakthroughs in lie-detection technology which resulted in improved detection accuracy. It is just a very long way from the sheer subjective reasoning in the ancient past to today's subjective analysis combined with the objective detection using computer science and many other high technologies.With improved accuracy, mankind started experimenting with the use of lie-detection in investigating criminal cases. Today, more and more countries in the world are using lie-detection in increasingly diversified areas. But with the increased use of lie-detection in criminal investigation and litigation, the validity of the technology and the detection results are more often than not being questioned. There isn't any consensus reached yet about whether lie-detection can be used in criminal investigation and its results can be established as evidences. Home and abroad, there all exist vast theoretical and practical differences as to whether lie-detection can be applied in criminal investigations, how to regulate the application in the process and what effect the results should realize as evidences. In many countries, there also exists serious inconsistency between the technology and its application both in theory and practice, especially so in China. This inconsistency leads to inadequate legal basis for any use of lie-detection and its results, and furthermore, affects the authority of the country's judicial justice.This thesis, based on an analytical survey of the use of lie-detection in foreign countries as well as the author's understanding of its application in China, tries to expand on the topic on the use and regulation of lie-detection in criminal investigation in order for the protection of human rights and the realization of judicial justice. It probes into the adequacy of lie-detection results applied as evidences, categorizes detection results and proposes rules for the application of detection results as evidences. In the end, it tries to establish some consistency in the theories and practices of lie-detection in criminal investigation and litigation. It is hoped that the conclusions of this thesis should draw more academic attention to the issue in question.