US V. Scheffer (1998)
Definition
US Supreme Court decision upholding the per se exclusion of polygraph evidence in military courts under Military Rule of Evidence 707, on reliability and jury-domain grounds.
- Court
- US Supreme Court
- Year decided
- 1998
- Rule at issue
- Military Rule of Evidence 707
- Holding
- Upheld per se exclusion of polygraph evidence
Common questions
What reasoning did the Court give for upholding the exclusion?+
The Court held that polygraph reliability remained scientifically unsettled and that admitting it risked usurping the jury's role as sole judge of witness credibility, so a categorical rule against it did not violate the defendant's right to present a defense.
Does Scheffer bar polygraph evidence in all US courts?+
It only upheld the specific military rule at issue. Civilian federal and state courts vary: most exclude polygraph results by rule or precedent, but a few permit them by stipulation between prosecution and defense.
Related terms
- AI Act Article 5(1)(F)
- The EU AI Act prohibition on AI systems that infer emotions, intentions, or characteristics from biometric data in law-enforcement and related contexts....
- BSA § 39
- Section 39 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (formerly IEA § 45), governing the admissibility of expert opinion in Indian courts. The...
- Concealed Information Test (CIT)
- The Lykken paradigm that detects concealed knowledge by measuring the orienting response to crime-specific items embedded among foils. Theoretically sounder than the...
- Control Question Test (CQT)
- The dominant polygraph examination format, comparing physiological responses to crime-relevant questions against responses to emotionally loaded control questions. Criticised for its false-positive...
- False Positive (PDD)
- A truthful person classified as deceptive by the polygraph examination. The rate of false positives in field conditions is non-trivially high and...
- Frye Standard
- The US legal test for admissibility of scientific evidence, originating from Frye v. United States (1923), which required that a technique be...
- NRC 2003
- The National Research Council's *The Polygraph and Lie Detection* (2003), the most comprehensive scientific review of polygraph validity. Found no scientific basis...
- Polygraph (PDD)
- A multichannel physiological recording instrument capturing electrodermal activity, cardiovascular parameters, and respiration. The term is used interchangeably with the examination technique; the...
- Selvi V. State of Karnataka (2010)
- Constitutional bench judgment (2010) 7 SCC 263 holding that compelled narco-analysis, polygraph testing, and brain-mapping violate Article 20(3) and Article 21 of...