iii.1: A Useful Fiction

“While the American Polygraph Association claims accuracy rates of 80 to 98 percent…”
American Polygraph Association. “Validity and Reliability of Polygraph Testing.”

“…little basis for the expectation that a polygraph test could have extremely high accuracy.”
National Academy of Sciences. “The Polygraph and Lie Detection,” 2003.

“…thirty-two states have judged polygraphs absolutely inadmissible and seventeen states and the District of Columbia have judged polygraphs admissible only upon the agreement of both defense and prosecution before the test takes place.”
American Polygraph Association. “Polygraph: Quick Reference Guide to the Law.”

iii.2: The Psychological Toll of Wrongful Conviction

“…(PTSD) was coined to describe the psychological toll of the war on returning veterans.”
Herman, Judith. Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence—from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Basic Books, 1997.

“The symptoms—including flashbacks, panic attacks, nightmares, paranoia, and detachment from society…”
The American Psychiatric Association. “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder,” in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed, 1994.

“… ‘suffering that is impossible to make sense of, suffering that becomes very difficult to build from or grow out of.’”
Haney, Craig. Frontline: Burden of Innocence, PBS, May 2003.

“‘All inmates, including exonerees, are at risk of becoming institutionalized…”
Kupers, Terry. In e-mail conversation with Lola Vollen, August 2005.