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Korean Psychological Journal of Culture and Social Issues

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Vol.14 No.4
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The cutoff criterion and the accuracy of the polygraph test for crime investigation

Korean Psychological Journal of Culture and Social Issues / Korean Psychological Journal of Culture and Social Issues, (P)1229-0661; (E)1229-0661
2008, v.14 no.4, pp.103-117


& (2008). The cutoff criterion and the accuracy of the polygraph test for crime investigation. Korean Psychological Journal of Culture and Social Issues, 14(4), 103-117.
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Abstract

The polygraph test administered by the Korean Prosecutors Office for crime investigations customarily uses the score of -12 as the cutoff point separating the subjects who lie from those who tell the truth. The criterion used by the KPO is different from the one (-13) suggested by Backster (1963) who invented the particular method for lie detection. Based on the signal detection theory applied to the real polygraph test data obtained from real crime suspects by the KPO, the present study identified the score of -8 as an optimal criterion resulting in the highest overall accuracy of the polygraph test. The classification of the subjects with the score of -8 as the criterion resulted in the highest accuracy (83.17%) compared with the accuracies of classifications with the Backster's criterion (76.24%) and the KPO's criterion (80.20%). However, the new criterion was also found to result in more false-positive cases. Based on the results from the present study, it was recommended to use the score of -8 as the criterion when the overall accuracy is important but the score of -12 or -13 when avoiding false-positive is more important than securing the overall accuracy.

keywords
polygraph test, cutoff point, signal detection theory, ROC curve, 거짓말탐지 검사(polygraph test), 판정기준 점수, 신호탐지 이론, ROC 곡선

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