PROVISIONAL plans by the British government to keep tabs on sex offenders with the help of 鈥渓ie detector鈥� polygraphs have been roundly condemned by experts in the US. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 absolute folly,鈥� says Stephen Fienberg of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, chairman of a National Research Council panel that produced a 245-page report on polygraphy in 2002.
The idea in the UK is to use polygraph tests to divine the intentions and histories of sex offenders who have been released back into the community. But Fienberg say that polygraphy has never been properly tested in this sensitive area. 鈥淭he notion of polygraphy is already fraught in areas in which it鈥檚 been studied well,鈥� says Fienberg. 鈥淣ow we鈥檙e talking about an area where it鈥檚 not been tested, but where the consequences are important both for the people being tested and the public.鈥�
Another member of the panel, Kathryn Laskey of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, agrees. She says that a sex offender could truthfully say they would avoid offending in the future, but still succumb to temptation if it arose. 鈥淪o even if it was 100 per cent correct, people鈥檚 intentions don鈥檛 always match their actions,鈥� she says.
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The Home Office says that the polygraph has been piloted on sex offenders in 10 areas, but that the decision on whether to deploy it has yet to be taken. A pilot scheme to tag offenders with GPS transmitters is expected to go ahead within the next two months.