David Derbyshire and Roger Highfield report for the Daily Telegraph Excerpt:
A scientist yesterday questioned a proposal to use lie-detector tests on convicted paedophiles to see if they would reoffend.
Initial trials by two American polygraph examiners in the West Midlands, Northumberland and Surrey found that a third of those taking the tests lied when they told probation officers that they were not having unsupervised contact with children.
As a result “significant action” was taken in three cases to prevent them reoffending and the Home Office is now considering a pilot scheme, marking the first time such tests have been used within the criminal justice system in Britain.
But, at the British Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Leicester, Dr Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, said the results of these tests should be treated with caution.