“Obviously these women, and perhaps there are male victims as well, want to be believed when they take such a chance.”

The above quote is from a letter to the editor written by Lewis Brandt, of Dillwyn, published in Friday’s edition of The Herald. Had Brandt stopped there I would wholeheartedly agree; of course they want to be believed because survivors of sexual assault deserve justice. However, after citing false claims to sexual assault — including the Rolling Stone story of a false claim to sexual assault, which definitely put a damper on fraternity life at the University of Virginia (U.Va.) — Brandt wrote, “I think a victim wants to believed so why not require them to take a lie detector test? The results of these instruments are not allowed in a court of law, but what about in the court of public opinion?”

I do not doubt that Brandt had good intentions, but to imply these suggestions may be the correct way to a solution is wrong. The court of public opinion doesn’t matter when you’re dealing with the internal trauma of sexual assault. Lie detector tests aren’t admissible in court for a reason. According to the American Psychological Association, most psychologists and other scientists agree that there is little basis for the validity of polygraph tests. I would also argue that someone who’s living through this trauma, over and over again, throughout a trial would be mentally worse off from the procedure of a lie detector test.

While I believe that those who make false claims deserve to feel the full extent of the law as they ruin lives of innocent people and make it even more difficult for true sexual assault survivors to come out without a fierce opposition, perhaps the solution may be for us, the public, to push for and require truth from our criminal justice system, which examines these cases, rather than survivors of sexual violence.

MORGAN WHITE is a staff reporter for The Farmville Herald and Farmville Newsmedia LLC. His email address is Morgan.White@FarmvilleHerald.com.