NCJ Number
210105
Journal
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 17 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2005 Pages: 211-221
Date Published
April 2005
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Ninety-five sexual offenders enrolled in outpatient treatment that required polygraph testing were queried about their polygraph experience.
Abstract
Postconviction sex offender polygraph examinations have become an increasingly important tool for many sexual offender treatment programs. This descriptive study examined the client-reported incidence of correct and incorrect examiner opinions regarding deception and truthfulness. The 95 convicted sexual offenders surveyed admitted to their instant offenses and were participating in treatment as a condition of remaining in the community. All participants had taken at least one polygraph examination and had been rated "no deception indicated" on their most recent examination. The requirement of a previous truthful exam helped maximize the probability that participants were capable of passing a polygraph test. Time in treatment ranged from 2 to 91 months. Each participant anonymously completed a questionnaire constructed for this survey. Participants were asked how long they had been in treatment, how many polygraph examinations they had taken, how many times they had successfully lied to examiners, and the number of times they had been incorrectly declared deceptive on those examinations (false positive). Program records were reviewed to collect data on actual polygraph examination reports. Client survey responses were then compared with file reviews for 403 polygraph examinations conducted during the sampling time frame. Participants reported a relatively low incidence of false indications of both deception (22 of 333 tests) and truthfulness (11 of 333) tests, suggesting that clients agreed with examiners' opinions 90 percent of the time. The majority of clients reported that polygraph testing was a useful part of treatment. Approximately 5 percent of participants reported that they responded to allegedly inaccurate accusations of deception by admitting to acts they had not actually committed. These data provide encouragement for the continued but cautious use of polygraph exams in sex offender treatment programs. Implications are drawn for practice and research. 3 tables and 35 references