Core Tip: The People's Procuratorate of Haidian District, Beijing has started to use the psychological situation tester (commonly known as a lie detector) to investigate official crime cases. This is also the first time that Beijing has used a lie detector in official crime cases handled by the procuratorate. The procuratorate stated that the use of a lie detector can produce psychological deterrence on suspects, but it will not be used as evidence for conviction.
According to a report on November 27th in China Youth Daily, the People's Procuratorate of Haidian District, Beijing has started using the psychological situation tester (commonly known as a lie detector) to investigate official crime cases and has successfully solved a bribery case. This is also the first time that Beijing has used a lie detector in official crime cases handled by the procuratorate.
It is understood that the lie detector can test out the physical changes such as skin electricity, pulse, and breathing caused by psychological changes when someone lies. These physical changes are only constrained by the autonomic nervous system and cannot be controlled by the brain. After systematic training, experienced testers can understand whether the tested person is lying by analyzing these changes.
Xu Yongjun, the head of the Publicity and Education Department of the People's Procuratorate of Haidian District, Beijing introduced that according to statistics on official crimes investigated in the past three years, there is a trend of increasing embezzlement and misappropriation cases year by year, while bribery cases have a decreasing trend. One of the reasons is that in bribery cases, the crime scene often only has the briber and the bribee, and the bribery method is mainly in the form of goods or cash, generally lacking written evidence for investigation.
At the same time, the increasing awareness of anti-investigation among criminals and the secretiveness of their criminal methods have also increased the difficulty of investigating such crimes. Therefore, the confessions of the bribers and bribees have become important evidence for identifying suspected crimes.
Using the lie detector in investigating official crime cases can help investigators better identify the authenticity of the suspect's testimony, and at the same time produce psychological deterrence on the suspects, which is beneficial for the rapid investigation of the case.
However, the results tested by the lie detector cannot be used as evidence for conviction.
Xu Yongjun said that the lie detector is merely an auxiliary tool for investigating cases, providing technical reference for investigators to recognize facts.