Whilst the majority of our clients use our services to prove they are being truthful in a matter, there are some who take the test knowing they cannot possibly pass.
We often have bookings cancelled, especially in cases of suspected ‘cheating’ in relationships. It seems that when the test has actually been booked the suspicious partner believes that because the suspected partner is prepared to go through with the test, this in itself is a strong sign of their innocence.
Some guilty parties believe that by offering to do a test this may pacify their partner, they are prepared to take a chance on booking a test in the expectation that they will not actually be required to go through with it. Sometimes this pays off, for others it doesn’t; therein lies the dilemma. If they cancel the test this will be taken as a sign of guilt, but if they go through with the test they will fail. So should they confess now or take a chance on beating the polygraph?
This is usually when we have a situation where counter-measures are employed by the examinee. Unfortunately for the examinee, there is a lot of mis-information out there relating to the polygraph and any experienced examiner will quickly pick up on the tactic being used. However others follow all the instructions given by the examiner (and simply hope for false negative result).
The ensuing result is usually met with the protestation;
But why would I take the test if I knew I would fail?
In our experience in more than 90% of cases, failing a test will result in a subsequent confession.