Chapter Application Paper: Interrogations, Confession, and Lie Detection 2
Abstract
Deception is a fundamental part of human nature that has permeated the criminal justice
system within confession, interrogation, and polygraph. It has become evident and essential that
the criminal and legal system must maintain effective methods and procedures for determining
deception. This paper examines the psychological and technical methods that have been utilized
by the criminal justice and legal system as well as touching upon the limitations of said methods
and the elicitation of false confessions. This paper also brings forth biblical perspectives that
emphasize truth and the condemnation of lying. Ultimately this paper focuses upon the
importance of psychological understanding within the criminal justice and legal system.
Chapter Application Paper: Interrogations, Confession, and Lie Detection 3
An Introduction to Deception and A Biblical Perspective
Deception is an unavoidable aspect of our society and culture, its basic human nature.
The Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis explains that the advancement of human intelligence
was driven by key social skills such as manipulation and deception (Constanzo & Krauss, 2021).
Deception has bled into all portions of our society, even the legal system. The evolutionary
addition of deception in everyday life has created a demand for various methods and technology
to detect liars. In the criminal world, there must be a way to determine the truth because there
must be fair justice, and the answer lies within human psychology paired with a touch of
technological advancement. Biblically it is quite clear, with the importance of truth being
emphasized. The bible in Proverbs 12:22 (New International Version) states, “The Lord detests
lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.” Proverbs 6:16-19 (New International
Version) also states, “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked
schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who
stirs up conflict in the community.” All that the Lord detests can fully be applied to criminal
psychology and crime in general. God believes that lying is highly detested because it goes
against all he believes and all he envisions for the world. The root of society, per the bible,
should be the truth. Lying is never beneficial and leads to further sin, distancing oneself from
God further. If God is truth, the devil is deception.
Lie Detection
Due to societies’ unwavering nature of deception, the legal system has had to create
methods to determine if a suspect is telling the truth or not. The chapter starts out by explaining
that even the earliest legal system had to have ways to detect deception within the legal system.
Chapter Application Paper: Interrogations, Confession, and Lie Detection 4
Way back to the early days, there was trial by ordeal. Trial by ordeal was when a person would
plea innocent and they would have their arm placed in boiling water to pull a stone out. The idea
was that if they were honest, God would protect them, and they would not suffer any burns. In
society today, that is not a method that is actively used as society has shifted to more intuitive
and technological practices (Constanzo & Krauss, 2021). One of the largest issues within the
criminal justice system is the accuracy within determining if one is innocent/guilty or telling the
truth/lying. The criminal justice system relies on accuracy and certainty to promote justice – with
a goal of being an unequivocal system. Another issue at hand within the criminal justice system
is confirmation bias, meaning that once someone has a stance or belief, it is human nature to look
past contradictory evidence and focus or find evidence to confirm said belief. One may believe
training would improve discrepancies and bias; however, it has shown to only boost confidence
(Constanzo & Krauss, 2021).
Polygraph
One way that the criminal justice system has tried to eliminate false convictions is by
using the polygraph machine, first invented in the 1920s. A blood pressure cuff is placed on a
subject’s arm, a pneumatic tube placed around a subject’s chest and electrodes placed onto and
around the fingers of the subject. The theory is that lying will cause a subject’s blood pressure
and heart rate to elevate, pores to sweat, and irregular breathing patterns – known as
psychological arousal (Constanzo & Krauss, 2021). Though this machine became a multimillion-
dollar product in the employment industry, it stuck around within the criminal justice system.
There are various techniques that are used for criminal investigations such as the comparison
question technique (CQT), the post comparison test (PCT), and even alternatives such as the
guilty knowledge test (Constanzo & Krauss, 2021). All versions of the test utilize the technology
Chapter Application Paper: Interrogations, Confession, and Lie Detection 5
behind the polygraph; however, they use different methods in utilizing data and information to
further determine deception. Though there have been successful outcomes with utilizing
polygraphy, there are numerous weaknesses that lead to false conviction. The main three issues
with polygraph are that there is no standardization, anxiety can be mistaken for deception, and it
can be extremely easy for one to deceive the deception test itself.
Interrogation and Confession
If you ask a police officer or investigator what is the best thing that could happen with a
case, they would most likely state it would be obtaining a confession during investigation. A
confession is whenever someone admits to committing an illegal act willingly. Whenever a crime
happens, officers must determine potential suspects through sufficient evidence and in turn
interrogate suspects for a potential confession. Juries often always convict defendants that have
confessed to a crime as it can be hard to disregard a confession regardless of coercion or
falseness, which can and have led to false conviction. Confessions are inadmissible if there was
any uncovered use of physical force, deprivation, isolation, threats or promises (Constanzo &
Krauss, 2021). This is also one of the reasonings as to why a person’s Miranda rights must
always be read aloud. The issue regarding confessions is when they become coerced due to
intimidation or deception, especially when it comes to suspect vulnerability. Thirty percent of
proven false confessions happen to be by youth under the age of eighteen due to their
psychological makeup (Constanzo & Krauss, 2021). Regarding false confessions, there are four
types known as instrumental or internalized and voluntary or coerced. There are many models
and solutions that have been brought forward to try to ensure the decline of false confessions
such as video recordings, probable cause and time limits for interrogations, adult safeguards, jury
instructions and expert testimony (Constanzo & Krauss, 2021). Overall, eliciting a false
Chapter Application Paper: Interrogations, Confession, and Lie Detection 6
confession stems from the interrogation room and the criminal justice system has a lot of work to
do to ensure the accuracy of confessions.
A Psychological Overview
In a psychological standpoint, lying and deception requires a person to be able to conduct
many mentally challenging tasks cohesively. One must suppress the actual truth, create a
believable lie, be able to control and distort one’s own behavior (both verbally and physically),
watch the evaluator or investigators’ behavior and assess if they believe the lie, and if they do
not, continue to distort the story so they will believe it (Constanzo & Krauss, 2021). Psychology
provides critical understanding of human behavior in conjunction with the legal system. To
properly understand deception, evaluators and investigators must have some knowledge of
psychological responses and the cognitive system. Psychological knowledge is then used to
interpret the truthfulness that lies within all evidence, polygraphs, and/or confessions. Without
psychological understanding there would be a gap in the justice system.
Chapter Application Paper: Interrogations, Confession, and Lie Detection 7
References
Costanzo, M., & Krauss, D. A. (2021). Forensic and Legal Psychology: Psychological
Science Applied to Law (Fourth edition). Macmillan Learning.
New International Bible. (2025). Biblica. https://www.biblica.com/
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