Is it legal to give a 4th grader a lie detector test over the phone

Never mind if it's legal, I don't even think it's POSSIBLE over the phone

A real polygraph is not infallible and is not even admissible as evidence in a court of law. A real polygraph can't be given over the phone. It involves measuring biological vital signs like respiration, pulse and blood pressure. If this was a school official that told the 4th grader this, they are either lying to scare him or they used some phony lie detector they bought over the internet. I think it was probably a story they told him to scare him into confessing. In either case, I would call a lawyer and sue the parties responsible for the incident.

I cannot think that any test done without either the parents or the child's consent would have any more chance than a snowflake in hell of standing up in a court of law. If the case were to come to court and that were offered as evidence, I think that it would go very badly for the school! 'Lie detector' tests are, at best, only a guide and, in order to be considered as evidence in court, they have to be conducted by qualified personnel and with the consent (or at least the knowledge) of the subject. One method involves sophisticated (and expensive) equipment which has to detect differences in frequency which are simply not possible without a good microphone. The bandwidth of a phone line is not good enough for that and there is no test that could tell conclusively from a phone conversation whether someone was lying or not. To be at all credible, a voice lie detector test must be conducted in a controlled environment by qualified operators with a carefully formulated set of questions. The story you tell here sounds to me like a bluff and would amount to bullying and coercion of the parents or the child by the school authorities, possibly in the full knowledge that the parents don't know enough about it to challenge the school and couldn't afford (or wouldn't think it worth it) to take the school to court. If I knew of such a tactic being used by a school with which I had any dealings, I would make a formal complaint, first to the Head of the school and then to the Education Authority.

I'd say that would be a very gullible 4th grader to believe such a thing is possible. About as preposterous as being told you can tell a woman is pregnant by the sound of her voice.

I don't even know if it is possible. Over the phone...I have never heard of htat. But even if they could...no it is NOT legal to do it without the parents and the child consent. Most importantly the parents consent. It would be illegal. Anf who ever did it would be in deep deep trouble. Definately in a civil court but possible in a criminal court as well.

As everyone else said, it A) wouldn't be possible to do over the phone, and B) would be legal with out the parents or guardians consent, as the child isunder 18.. But you would be amazed what you can get for a confession out of a young child just by SAYING you are/can do it.... But now...my question...is it REALLY such a big deal if the kid did lie to his parents and say he was sick? I am assuming he did this to get out of school, which is something that most all kids have done, or tried to do at some point. It seems to me that is ANYONE should be worried about it, it should be his parents, and others should keep their noses in their own business.

It's not even possible. You have to have several monitors strapped to his body to do it, over the phone wouldn't work.

I do not think that it is legal to give a child a lie detector test with out parents consent. and i did not know that you could give it to someone over the phone, how did they hook him up to all the things they hook you up to to read your responses on the machine.