I. The polygraph paradox

A polygraph test is both part of the interrogation process and a separate, specialized interrogation strategy. In some investigations, it is the entire interrogation. In others, the polygraph test is one stage of a questioning pathway.

Polygraph tests are usually scheduled when only mere suspicion connects the suspect to the crime. The accused attends the police station by consent as a suspect, not under arrest. Although the right to counsel is required by law only after a person is detained or arrested, suspects consenting to a polygraph test are usually informed of the right to counsel before the test even though this is not required by law.

The inadmissibility of polygraph test results, combined with the consent requirement form a complex relationship between the test and confession admissibility. A crucial part of this complicated relationship is the right to counsel. In most cases involving a polygraph test, where a confession is obtained, the accusedís status changes. After a confession is made, the officerís belief changes to reasonable grounds, changing the accused personís status from a voluntary visitor to an arrested person.

The question becomes, ìIs the original right to counsel before the confession sufficient or does the right to counsel have to repeated after the confession?î