All In The Mind

Polygraph Testing for Sex OffendersMandatory polygraph tests for sex offenders could be introduced by the end of 2013, following a pilot trial in the Midlands was judged to be a success.The controversial test is often called a "lie detector". It measures physiological arousal such as increased heart rate, respiration and sweating and the assumption is that these responses can be used to assess whether somebody's telling the truth or not. In the pilot study, convicted sex offenders who'd served their sentence and were out on licence in the ecommunity, were judged to be more than twice as likely to admit to risky behaviour if they'd been given a polygraph test. The Ministry of Justice, subject to parliamentary time and approval, wants to roll out compulsory testing within 12 months in England and Wales.Dr Jane Wood, a forensic psychologist from the University of Kent and one of the authors of the Midlands polygraph pilot evaluation, describes the results which so impressed the Ministry of Justice and then Claud