From BBC News (1 December). Despite the title of the news item, the effectiveness of polygraphy with sex offenders is probably more about ‘truth facilitation’ than ‘lie detection’.
Sex offenders could face compulsory lie detector tests in future after a pilot project was judged a success. The Home Office will now consult on the scheme, which aims to monitor offenders’ behaviour in the community.
[...] Professor Don Grubin, of Newcastle University, who led the pilot study, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the aim was to use the lie-detector tests alongside other measures. “The aim is not to catch offenders out who have re-offended. The aim is to prevent them from re-offending in the first place,” he said. “So we use the lie-detector as part of a broader package of measures to try to understand what offenders are doing, what sort of behaviours they’re engaging in and whether their risk is increasing.”
A few recent references:
- Don Grubin and Lars Madsen (2006). Accuracy and utility of post-conviction polygraph testing of sex offenders. The British Journal of Psychiatry (2006) 188: 479-483.
- Daniel T. Wilcox and Daniel E. Sosnowski (2005). Polygraph examination of British sexual offenders: A pilot study on sexual history disclosure testing. Journal of Sexual Aggression 11(1): 3 – 25
- Lars Madsen, Shaun Parsons and Don Grubin (2004). A preliminary study of the contribution of periodic polygraph testing to the treatment and supervision of sex offenders. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology 15(4):682 – 695
- Don Grubin, Lars Madsen, Shaun Parsons, Dan Sosnowski and Brent Warberg (2004). A Prospective Study of the Impact of Polygraphy on High-Risk Behaviors in Adult Sex Offenders. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment 16(3)
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