Sex offenders can be made to take lie detector tests from Wednesday 8 April as part of their probation conditions on release from prison, or face being sent back, Justice Minister David Hanson announced today.
The pilots will run in probation areas in the East and West Midlands for three years, to establish whether polygraph testing can assist in the management of sex offenders in the community. Sex offenders will be chosen by their probation officer, acting in consultation with other professionals, to decide whether a polygraph condition should be included in the offender’s licence. So far, 25 sex offenders are lined up to take the tests, with an estimated 350 - 450 to be tested over three years.
Justice Minister David Hanson MP said:
‘The first duty of the Criminal Justice System is to protect the public. Putting in place thorough systems to ensure high level vigilance of serious sexual and violent offenders on their release from prison is vital in our work protecting communities from crime. We made a commitment to introduce these mandatory tests through parliament and I am proud to say that this can now legally happen from Wednesday.
‘The tests will help us determine whether the polygraph can be a useful additional tool in the management of sex offenders, in order to protect the public. It will be used alongside other processes in place to manage these offenders. The Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) system we put in place just seven years ago, with police, probation and other agencies working closely together, has been successful in effectively managing risk of harm to the public from known dangerous offenders.
‘Since their introduction, other countries around the world view MAPPA as a beacon of best practice in public protection. They are a fundamental part of the way in which the Government has reformed the criminal justice system to ensure it is focused on its core aim of protecting the communities it serves.’
Professor Don Grubin, who is carrying out the tests said:
‘Polygraph testing of sex offenders is part of a package that is aimed at preventing new sex offences from being committed. Disclosures made during polygraph examinations, as well as conclusions drawn from passed or failed examinations, allow probation officers and the police to intervene to reduce risk. Just as important, it is also aimed at enhancing the cooperation of offenders with supervision, helping them to focus on, and avoid, the sorts of behaviours that make reoffending more likely.’
Legislation was introduced in the Offender Management Act 2007 that would enable a further pilot to be carried out on a mandatory basis for sex offenders subject to licence release from prison. This follows an original pilot in 2003-05 which involved voluntary testing of sex offenders. For the voluntary pilot, probation staff rated polygraph testing as being helpful in 90% of cases.
The new pilot and subsequent research will seek to establish whether polygraphy tests should be made mandatory for all sex offenders and rolled out across the country as a useful additional risk management tool in order to protect the public.
Notes to editors
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Each polygraph session will take between 1½ - 2 hours and will consist of three phases. During the pre-test interview the offender will be told of the questions they are to be asked in the polygraph examination which may mean they make relevant disclosures before actually taking the test. The offender will then be attached to the polygraph machine and asked the questions. The polygraph operator will interpret the offender’s responses, and then a final interview will take place during which the offender will be confronted with the results of the test and asked to account for any failed tests.
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For further information please contact the Ministry of Justice Press Office on 020 3334 3536.
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