A Dr. Phil Prime Time Special: Caged?: Polygraph Test

Jacob agrees to take a polygraph test. Before he sits down with the examiner, he says, "I want to get this whole situation over with so I can get on with my normal life." Here is how the test goes:

 

Polygraph Examiner: Did you personally witness Randy locking your younger brother in a plywood chamber?
Jacob: Yes.
Polygraph Examiner: Did Randy ever tell you to never tell anybody about the plywood box?
Jacob: Yes. He would say, "Don't tell anybody what goes on in here."
Polygraph Examiner: Did Randy ever physically beat you and your younger brother?
Jacob: Yes. I saw him slap my younger brother and beat him with a switch. I could hear my younger brother screaming.
Polygraph Examiner: Did Randy place a butcher knife to your throat and threaten to cut you?
Jacob: Yes.
Polygraph Examiner: Did Randy ever threaten to shoot you with his gun?
Jacob: Yes.
Polygraph Examiner: Did you lose control or wet your pants?
Jacob: I did wet myself; it happened so many times I couldn't tell you a number.

When the polygraph test is over, Jacob says, "It was very nerve-racking, but I'm confident in the answers I gave. Hopefully it'll turn out the way I want it to."

Before Josh's polygraph test begins, he says, "I'm here to set the record straight for anybody who doubts that my father is a good person. I'm going to pass the polygraph test because I have no reason to lie."

Polygraph Examiner: Have a seat, please. I'm going to ask you a series of questions here, and they're either yes or no or, if you need to explain something to me, do that. Is your true first name "Joshua"?
Josh: Yes.
Polygraph Examiner: Did you ever see your father lock your younger brother inside a wooden crate with three padlocks?
Josh: No.
Polygraph Examiner: Did your father ever deny your brother use of the bathroom?
Josh: No.
Polygraph Examiner: Did you ever witness your brother locked in his room during the day?
Josh: No

When the test has concluded, Josh says, "I feel really good about the results because I told the truth."

Dr. Phil sits down with Josh, holding the results of Josh's polygraph test.

"Would it surprise you if I said you passed the test completely?" he asks.

"No, not at all," says Josh.

"Would it surprise you if I said you failed the polygraph?" Dr. Phil asks.

"Yes it would," he says.

Dr. Phil reads the results.

"The question was, did you ever witness your brother confined to a wooden box with three padlocks?"

"No," Josh volunteers.

"Your answer was no," says Dr. Phil. "The results are that your answer showed deception; that that was not the truthful answer. What do you say about that?"

"I don't understand that," says Josh, "because he has never been in an enclosure with three padlocks on it or anything."

Moving on, Dr. Phil says, "Did your father ever deny your brother to use the bathroom? Answer: no. Result: deception. Did you ever witness your younger brother being told to urinate in to a two-liter bottle? Your answer was " "

"Yes," says Josh. 

"That's truthful," says Dr. Phil. "It says that's truthful, no deception, but it also indicates that you did see him confined in a wooden structure and denied access to the bathroom. So we got it right, the polygraph operator got it right on some questions but not others?"

"I'm not saying that he was wrong," Josh says, "but I have never seen him locked up into anything with a padlock. It was a partition."

 

Dr. Phil says, "And so he differentiated between a partition, which I find offensive. I've got to tell you, I find that offensive in and of itself, but, this differentiated from that " Was he locked into some other structure, whether you call it a cage, a crate, a chamber... "

"No," says Josh, "he was never locked in anything like that.

Dr. Phil continues, "Whatever you call it. You say, 'No, no, and no,' and the test says, 'Deception, deception, deception.' How do you explain that?"

Josh says, "The partition, there is nothing wrong with that because that's all it was was a large crib. He could have gotten out of that if he tried."

"You're saying there was a structure - a wooden structure built in the room " connected to two walls so it would be L-shaped? And that made a box?" asks Dr. Phil.

"Yes," says Josh. 

"No door? No stairs? So, he's in a room within a room," Dr. Phil clarifies.

"Yeah, at that time he was only 3 or 4. You don't let a 3- or 4-year-old roam the entire house anyway; Nobody would."

Dr. Phil expresses shock at this statement. "Of course you do! Children have free reign in their homes! You childproof them, you put latches on cabinets, you supervise them, but you don't build wooden crates with no doors inside a room and put a child inside it. You see nothing wrong with that?"

"No," says Josh, "I don't."

Dr. Phil tells him, "We polygraphed your brother, and he said that he was confined, he was denied bathroom privileges, all of the things that we've talked about. He says it happened; he passed. You say it didn't happen; you did not pass those questions. Are you covering for your dad?"

"No," says Josh.

"Are you trying to protect him because he's your father?" asks Dr. Phil.

"I don't feel that my father needs protecting," says Josh. "He hasn't done anything wrong."