Archive for February 18, 2009
Tasing isn’t for cops only
Feb 18th
Now you, too, can tase people from the comfort of your home or your business. This is not a joke.
The box has been banned
Feb 18th
Updating an earlier post, the New Haven board of Alderman approved the ordinance banning the box.
So the breathalyzer is racist!
Feb 18th
caption not necessary
Way back in November 2008, when the world was a rosier place, I asked if the breathalyzer was racist. The post was based on a comment by noted DUI lawyer Jay Ruane, who challenged the use of the Intoxilyzer 5000 by the State of CT. The claim was supported by the research of a Dr. Hlastala, who has found that because the lung capacity of black men is 3% less than that of a white man, the results were inaccurate when testing African-Americans.
Perhaps motivated by this claim or the increasing cost of maintaining the I-5000, CT is now moving to another device to measure BAC: the equally crappily named Alcotest 7110 MK III-C. (Who comes up with these names? Seriously? Why can’t they be named BAC test machine 1 and 2?) At a cost of almost $1 million, the BAC TM1 will be replaced by the BAC TM2, at which point we will start investigating the reliability of that instrument (more on that after the jump). But first, a quote from the State Police:
Lie to me: Why thank you, I already am
Feb 18th
As if CSI wasn’t enough, lawyers now have another TV show to deal with when it comes to jurors and their ability to make credibility assessments. A new show, starring the inimitible Tim Roth, Lie to Me, purports to bring to the fore the “science” of lie detection through observation. The show does this in rather cheesy ways (the cheesy way that would look good on “Psych”, but not befitting a slick network production), by “highlighting” or zooming in on the subject’s facial tics. This gives Roth (and the viewer) a clue that the subject is acting in a not-so-truthful manner.
The show itself is based on four decades of research by Paul Ekman of the University of California. He serves as a consultant to the show. Ekman has been researching body language and the art (or is it science) of lie detection for a long time, copiously compiling data after research study after research study.
His finding? It doesn’t work. You can’t do it.
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