virginia: Yes I have a question about my legal right about a polygraph test like how accurate it is and also can it be used in Virginia court systems? I have been accused of something really embarassing and the police want me to take a polygraph but when I get around police period I go into a nervious state. My main is if I fail can the police throw charges on me and can it be used in court?|||You can always refuse a polygraph test. It is unreliable and not admissible except in rare circumstances. You will have to ask a VA lawyer if it could be used in your situation.The police may regard your refusal as some indication you are guilty, but if you have already been charged with something, they don't need it and you definitely should not take it. If someone is saying you did something illegal, and that allegation is being investigated, a polygraph could help you if you are not guilty, but only if it is administered by a well-trained, highly experienced polygraph expert. There are not a lot of those around, and they are not cheap A lot of people are nervous when subjected to a polygraph, guilty or not. A good administrator takes his/her time to get you comfortable with the test, even bored. Most local police types administering the test do not do a good job of that.|||The polygraph can not be used in a court of law. My best advice is get an attorney and get one fast. You do not have to take a polygraph that is your choice not the Detectives investigating the case. Nothing good can come from taking one. It is not like if you pass the Detectives are gonna drop the case. If you fail it is only going to want to make them dig deeper into your story. I say do not speak with them under any circumstances. Go get advice from an attoryney. In the yellow pages you can look for an attorney and mostof them will give you an hour free so take them up on it.|||Polygraph results aren't admissible in court anywhere, because they aren't completely accurate. But, they are accurate enough for investigative purposes. The police want you to take a polygraph so they'll know if they are on the right track. If the polygraph shows that you didn't do it, then they'll focus their energies elsewhere. And, everyone's nervous when they take a polygraph. The examiners are able to take that into account.|||Polygraph test are inadmissable in a court of law for the exact reason you mentioned. That means a ploygraph test can NOT be used in a court of law anywhere in the United States. In most jurisdictions, if you work on an armored truck, around large sums of money or for the Federal Government you may be required to take a polygraph for continued employment however, generally these cannot be used in a court of law.|||You are not required to take a polygraph, and if you did volunteer to take one, it could not be used against you in court. As mentioned previously, there is enough inaccuracy to not trust the results. As for being nervous about taking it, this is not much of an issue. They do some initial questions to get a baseline that is used for the rest of the questions, so that (supposedly) nervousness will not show as an untruth.|||Some States (NJ is one) allow for "stipulated" polygraph results to be admitted in court. If both the State and defendant agree in advance that the results would be admissible in court, they can be admitted. If there is no agreement, the results would not be admissible.|||You don't have to take the test if you don't want to.|||Polygraph tests are not admissible in court and therefore not required. They can help you if you want to help clear your name in a legal setting but they can be a legal pitfall as well.