David C. Raskin

David C. Raskin received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1963 and served on the faculties of U.C.L.A., Michigan State University, University of British Columbia, and the University of Utah, where he holds the rank of Professor Emeritus of Psychology. He is an internationally-known and highly respected scientist in the polygraph community who frequently consults and lectures on the subject, and provides guidance to the polygraph community, government agencies, legislatures, and the courts. He is also a licensed polygraph examiner in the states of Utah and New Mexico and has served as an expert witness in approximately 200 criminal and civil cases in federal and state courts.

In 1970, David Raskin, a psychologist and researcher at the University of Utah, began a study of the probable lie comparison question polygraph technique, and Raskin and his colleagues systematically developed this approach. His most significant contribution was the development of the Utah Numerical Scoring System, a highly reliable and valid method for scoring specific-incident, comparison-question tests. He first published research on polygraph technology in the 1970s and then spent 10 years developing the software and hardware for the world's first computerized polygraph system, which was marketed in 1991. His research established high accuracy rates for the Comparison Question Test (CQT), with a 3-year study funded by the National Institute of Justice using U.S. Secret Service examinations showing an overall accuracy rate of approximately 95% both on suspects later confirmed to be guilty and those later confirmed to be innocent.

Raskin is an international authority on credibility assessment using polygraph techniques and is a leader in the development and applications of interview techniques, statement validity assessment, and investigative procedures in sexual abuse cases, has had numerous grants and contracts from federal agencies for research and development of polygraph techniques, and has authored more than 150 scientific articles, chapters, books, and reports. In 2009, the Utah Laboratory received the John E. Reid Memorial Award for distinguished achievements in polygraph research, teaching, and writing, and that research program continues under the direction of his colleagues Professor John Kircher at the University of Utah and Professor Charles Honts at Boise State University. His long-term collaborations with John C. Kircher and Charles R. Honts produced many of the field's most influential studies.

He has received research grants and contracts on the subject of deception detection from the National Institute of Justice, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency, US Secret Service, and National Institute of Mental Health. More recently, Raskin and Kircher recognized the need to find new lie detection methods that could complement the polygraph, and wondered if changes in eye movements and pupil size while reading and answering questions about a crime would reveal deception. The authors have financial interests in Converus Inc., a company that has commercialized the ocular-motor detection technology, and have disclosed those interests to the University of Utah.