My son is 16 with ADD, he has recently been charged as a sex offender, he has told nothing but the truth, and should not have ever been charged for this, his PO. is a real hardcore guy who I'm sure deals with allot of true sex offenders, but he is so hard on my son, he is constantly telling him he is lying...He intimidates him real bad. he has passed 5 drug test so far and his PO. has never said anything good to him, we have 2 new grandsons and we are not aloud to have them in our home at night anymore, well tomorrow he is finally going to have his polygraph test, his PO. said it could take up to 8 hours depending on how my son answers his questions, he also told him he would be asking alot of questions about his nephews, which is fine but what I'm really worried about is how will my son be treated! will they understand his ADD?  and explain the questions if he gets confused? how long does it take to get results back? I heard 2 weeks, if so why would it take so long for the test? i ask if I could drive my son to take the polygraph but I'm not alloud WHY? I'm just so confused on all of this, and need answers to my questions. I would appreciate any reponse I can get before Friday morning, he went to take the test a couple of weeks ago but the PO. didn't have me sign the papers so he didn't get to take it, but while he was there he told me that the guy that was giving the test, was cursing at him really bad, every other word out of his mouth was a curse word he told me, is this normal? where are my rights as a parent? why couldn't I at least get to drive him to the testing place? and then back home, I do not like the way his PO. treats him, we will be glad to get this over with, i asked his PO. if he beleived any one could be telling the truth, and he said NO_WAY.....
he made the comment that he can tell when everyone is lying.....PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN, THANKS

Could you clarify a point? You say that your son has recently been "charged" as a sex offender. Then you mention his P.O. (parole/probation officer) Did you mean to say that your son was recently convicted of a crime and designated as a sex offender? Or has he been charged with a new crime?

Thank you for the reply, I'm sorry about the misunderstanding, I'm very new at this, my  son was recently convicted of a crime and designated as a sex offender, and P.O. is /probation officer, there are no other crimes! Thanks

Thank you for this clarification. If your son had been accused of a new crime, then I would have suggested that he invoke his 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

If this is your son's first polygraph interrogation, then I suspect he is in for quite a grilling about his sexual history and any other past offenses for which he may not have been convicted. He still has the right to invoke his 5th Amendment rights if the answer to any questions asked would incriminate him.

What right, if any, does your son have to have a lawyer or parent present when he is interrogated? Have you consulted a lawyer regarding your son's options?

You will want to learn how polygraph "testing" actually works. It has no scientific basis, but is instead fundamentally dependent on trickery and has an inherent bias against the truthful. You'll find this explained in detail in Chapter 3 of AntiPolygraph.org's free book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, which you can download as a PDF file or browse on-line. You can then speak with your son about some of the nonsense he can expect to encounter during his polygraph interrogation.

In addition, after you've learned how polygraphy "works" (and doesn't), you'll find some documents related specifically to post-conviction sex offender "testing" on the AntiPolygraph.org Reading Room page. (Scroll down to the "State and Local Polygraph Documents" section.)

Also, see the Post-Conviction Polygraph Programs forum on this message board for commentary by others in your (and your son's) situation.

we do have a lawyer but he said he has to take it, and he thinks he will do fine, as far as a parent being present, the P.O. said no that I (could) drive him to the testing, Which I just found that out today! but he said I would have to wait a couples of (floors) down from the testing, Why is that? our lawyer will be tied up so he could not be there. thanks again

The reason you're not being allowed to be present is to place your son at a psychological disadvantage during the polygraph interrogation, and to prevent you from providing any advice or guidance.

You have been such a big help and I do really appreciate everything, thanks again. I'll let you know how everything went!!!! ;)

Thank you my son passed the polygraph, but was treated like shit for 6 and 1/2 hours, he first enterented the room and was told to have a seat, he did so. my son is over wieght and when he sit down the polygrapher said (I CAN SEE AlREADY YOU DO NOT KNOW WHEN TO PUSH YOURSELF AWAY FROM THE TABLE) MY SON SAID HE FELT LIKE CRYING, I did not discuss with my son what I read on your site, I just gave him a few ideals of my own from what i had read, but during the questions his polography did ask him if he went to a certain internet site to find out how to cheat. WHY WOULD HE ASK THIS?

he was called a son-of-a-bitch over and over, and his polygrapher put his parents down so bad he felt crying again, but he was afraid to speak to this guy because of all the nasty things he was saying to my son, IS THIS ALOUD?

my husband and i are so upset over this, we want to know what we should do, we do have rights....my son might be A.D.D. and be overweight but he is still a human being with feelings, he has been so depressed since he had this test....

WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

Very simple. Sue the sadistic bastard. He is guilty of child abuse. He does not have the right to curse or in any other way use abusive tactics on clients. Especially kids. Anyone that calls me an SOB gets knocked on their ass.

Was the interrogation videotaped or otherwise recorded? I'm guessing the gutless wonder (who else but a polygrapher would torment an overweight child?) didn't record it, but one never knows.