M. Peterson

M. Peterson (C. F. Peterson) is known in the polygraph research community for contributing to a significant legal brief submitted to the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case United States v. Scheffer (1997). Working alongside Charles Robert Honts, Peterson co-authored the Brief of the Committee of Concerned Social Scientists as Amicus Curiae, which addressed the scientific status and admissibility of polygraph evidence in court proceedings. This case was pivotal in determining the constitutionality of military rules prohibiting the admission of polygraph evidence at court-martial proceedings.

Peterson's contribution to the field appears to have been focused on meta-analytic and systematic review work examining polygraph accuracy. The 1997 collaboration with Honts, who was affiliated with Boise State University, came during a critical period when courts were reconsidering the admissibility of polygraph testing following changes to evidentiary standards. The amicus brief represented an effort by concerned social scientists to provide the Court with scientific perspective on the validity and reliability of psychophysiological detection of deception.

Despite the significance of the Scheffer case in polygraph jurisprudence, limited information is publicly available about Peterson's broader academic career, institutional affiliations, or subsequent research contributions. The single documented publication suggests Peterson may have been involved in legal or forensic psychology contexts during the mid-1990s, contributing expertise on credibility assessment to important legal proceedings.