I have seen several posts questioning the "failed" polygraph tests, and why they would be told they failed if they didn't, or that it makes no sense because polygraphs are given to clear someone. I just wanted to chime in on my personal experience with this and being told a lie as to the results.
In the summer of 1985 several teens in my neighborhood were involved in a very serious crime that ended in the murder of an elderly lady. The FBI, not police, made a sweep of the neighborhood rounding up every teen in order to get some answers. My sister and I both were hauled in to the Justice Center along with about 40 others. More than half of us were told we failed our lie detector of the ones who parents consented to it. I was one of them that "failed", my sister was not. I had NO information on what happened, I did not even know the family. My sister had NO information, but knew the murdered woman's granddaughter. In fact only a small handful of kids had knowledge of the crime, and only a dozen or so knew one of the grandchildren, yet we were told we failed. I was later cleared, but in the meantime I was harassed for 3 days after being released to my parents. For two days my parents were ordered to have me appear at 9am where I was taken into a room and asked questions by about 30 FBI over several hours.
So yes, the FBI does lie and say someone failed when they did not. Maybe this is common practice, maybe it's more common when they have nothing to go on, or in certain types of crimes... I don't know. BTW, that initial sweep of our neighborhood was WITHOUT parental consent. I still have images of two of my friends being shoved into a blazer as my sister was grabbed from beside me, and then me. Again, this was solely the FBI, not the police. So in my opinion the FBI will do whatever they want or whatever they can in order to solve a crime. :twocents: