Credibility Assessment: Scientific Research and Applications

In 2001, the late Murray Kleiner and an array of experts contributed to the Handbook of Polygraph Testing, published by Elsevier, which examined the fundamental principles behind polygraph tests and reviewed the key tests and methods used at that time. In the intervening thirteen years, the field has moved beyond traditional polygraph testing to include a host of biometrics and behavioral observations. The new title reflects the breadth of methods now used.

Credibility Assessment builds on the content provided in the Kleiner volume, with revised polygraph testing chapters and chapters on newer methodologies, such as CNS, Ocular-motor, and behavioral measures. Deception detection is a major field of interest in criminal investigation and prosecution, national security screening, and screening at ports of entry. Many of these methods have a long history, e.g., polygraph examinations, and some rely on relatively new technologies, e.g., fMRI and Ocular-motor measurements. Others rely on behavioral observations of persons in less restricted settings, e.g., airport screening. The authors, all of whom are internationally-recognized experts associated with major universities in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe, review and analyze various methods for the detection of deception, their current applications, and major issues and controversies surrounding their uses. This volume will be of great interest among forensic psychologists, psychophysiologists, polygraph examiners, law enforcement, courts, attorneys, and government agencies.

• Provides a comprehensive review of all aspects of methods for deception detection
• Includes methods being used in credibility, such as autonomic, CNS, fMRI, and Ocular-motor measures and behavioral and facial observation
• Edited by leaders in the field with over 25+ years of experience
• Discusses theory and application

received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the UCLA in 1963. He has served on the faculties of UCLA, Michigan State, and the University of Utah, where he is Professor Emeritus of Psychology. He was elected a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, Fellow and Diplomate of the American College of Forensic Examiners, and the American Association for Applied and Preventive Psychology. He served as President of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association and on the Board of Directors of the Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Professor Raskin's laboratory in the Department of Psychology University of Utah for 25 years was the leader in research and development of polygraph methods and computer techniques for the conduct and analysis of polygraph examinations. In 2009, the Utah Laboratory received the John E. Reid Memorial Award for distinguished achievements in polygraph research, teaching, and writing. That research program continues under the direction of his colleagues Professor John Kircher at the University of Utah and Professor Charles Honts at Boise State University. Their work received Dr. Raskin is an international authority on credibility assessment using polygraph techniques and is a leader in the development and applications of interview techniques, statement validity assessment, and investigative procedures in sexual abuse cases. He has had numerous grants and contracts from federal agencies for research and development of polygraph techniques.

Professor Raskin has authored more than 150 scientific articles, chapters, books, and reports, including Scientific Methods in Criminal Investigation and Evidence. He co-organized the 1988 NATO Scientific Conference on Credibility Assessment, the 1989 Cornell Conference on Suggestibility of Children's Recollections, and the 1994 Norwegian Conference on Witness Psychology: Psychological Methods in the Investigation and Court Treatment of Sexual Abuse. He regularly provides lectures and workshops on polygraph techniques, investigative procedures, interview methods, and analysis of witness statements for federal and local law enforcement agencies, attorneys, judges, mental health professionals, case workers, and government personnel in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Israel, Europe, South America, and Asia.

Professor Raskin has frequently provided consultations to the U.S. government, including the Departments of Treasury, Justice, Defense, Homeland Security, and Energy, the Secret Service, FBI, CIA, ATF, Customs, and Military Intelligence; U.S. Senate Committees on Watergate, Iran-Contra, Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Judiciary, and Labor and Human Resources; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Israel Police, and Israeli Anti-Terrorism Forces. He has been called to testify by the President's Joint Commission on Security, the U.S. Senate and various state legislatures, the British House of Commons, the Israel Knesset, the Israel Supreme Court, and federal and state courts in the U.S., Canada, and Sweden. He has presented expert testimony on polygraph techniques, interview and investigative methods, and children's statements in more than 300 federal and local courts and administrative proceedings in the U.S., Canada, and Sweden.

Professor Raskin is president of Scientific Assessment Technologies, Inc. In the 1980s, he and his partner Professor John C. Kircher of the University of Utah developed the first automatic computer techniques for analysis and decision-making for polygraph examinations. In the early 1990s, they developed and introduced the world's first fully-computerized polygraph system the CPS, which scientific research has consistently shown to be the most accurate system available today. Professor Raskin is presently working with Professor Kircher and his colleagues at the University of