University of Illinois Law Review

American lawyers generally believe that evidence of polygraph test results is inadmissible in courts in this country and that polygraph evidence deserves to be treated as an evidentiary "pariah." Professor McCall's article calls both beliefs into question by examining past and present polygraph admissibility law and the evolution of polygraph theory and technique. Topics addressed in the article include: the appellate opinions from 1975 to 1989 that authorized admission of polygraph evidence in five state and federal jurisdictions; the recent U.S. Supreme Court opinions, including Daubert v. Merrell Dow, that compel a reevaluation of polygraph evidence admissibility that must be more sophisticated and less hostile than was generally the case in the past; and the current status of this reevaluation that has resulted in the admission of polygraph evidence in a number of lower federal courts during the last year.

* Professor of Law, University of California, Hastings College of Law. B.A. 1958, Pomona College; J.D. 1962, Harvard Law School.