posted 04-07-2008 02:17 PM            

With juveniles there are a lot of unanswered questions, but one of my first is usually whether the cardio cuff will fit.

posted 04-07-2008 07:07 PM            

Abrams did a little bit (during the 1970s), and suggested that functional maturity is probably more important than age. We all know that not all 12 year olds are created equally. Some are 12 going on 8.

There is also evidence that reliability with mentally retarded persons (IQ < 70) may not be good.

A look at stratified Functional Age Equivalency levels or Standardized Age Scores (depending on whether you like the Weschler/Kauffman or Binet family of IQ tests), will suggest that adults whose IQs are ~70 have MAE/SAS scores of about age 12.

With that in mind, Colorado set the chronological referal threshold at age 14, but allows referral of 12-13 year-old if the referring professional is confident the youth is functioning like a 12 year old (per psychometric testing), and believes the polygraph can play a useful role informing treatment and risk management decisions.

There are also developmental and physiological reasons pertaining to the prefrontal/executive cortex and abstraction skills that begin fully mature after about age 12. It is, of course the prefrontal cortex that is responsible for attention concentration, problem solving, judgement (including about things like whether or not to lie), and of course all of the mental gymnastics that is involved in ignoring a stimulus question, thinking about something else instead, and monitoring one's body/acting careful so as to avoid revealing when one is lying. All enervated by acetylcholine, the same loveable little neurotransmitter in the skin, enervating all the postganglionic sympathetic neurons that regulate those precious eccrine sweat pores.

Here is a short slideshow I made for the SCOA on polygraph suitability concerns.
http://www.raymondnelson.us/suitability/PolgyraphSuitabilityRN022007.pdf

r

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"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room."
--(Stanley Kubrick/Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove, 1964)

posted 04-07-2008 07:25 PM            

Also I know that states such as Colorado have stipulations that recommend no one under the age of 12 be tested for PCSOT. They recommend no one under 14, but will test as young as 12 if they meet certain criteria including: consistent orientation to date, time and place; understand possible rewards and consequences for not telling the truth; etc.

Like you stated, many of these things need to be determined during the pre-test interview. There are many maturity levels regardless of age. I have tested several adult offenders who have less maturity and insight than some of the juveniles I test.

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"Truth Seekers"

posted 04-08-2008 10:38 AM         

Nice presentation. What do you write in your reports as a disclaimer regarding clients who are deemed marginal?

posted 04-08-2008 12:46 PM            

Having some intelligent exclusionary criteria helps silence the assault from our detractors who would accuse us of testing anyone with a pulse.

Here is some boilerplate:

quote:

---

******** reported that he takes several medications, including Flomax (for prostate enlargement), Temazepam (for insomnia), Effexor (antidepressant), Prinzide (for high blood pressure), Hydralazine (for high blood pressure), and Avadart (for prostate). ******** further reported that he suffered a stroke and aneurysm at age 30 (approximately 37 years ago), and further reported that he had to learn to read and write again after that cerbro-vascular accident (CVA). ******** reported that he was out of work for three months following that CVA, and further reported that that he has experienced some memory deficits since that time. ******** reported he continues to have some difficulty with reading and retaining information that he obtains from reading. ******** reported that he was married at the time of that stroke and aneurysm, and divorced after that time. ******** reported that he recently underwent a prostate biopsy, and denied any acute health problems at the time of this examination.

---

and some addition language about his suitability:

quote:

---

Upon completion of the pretest interview, this examiner determined ******** to be marginally suitable for the polygraph technique, due to his reported use of multiple prescription medications to remediate the potentially overwhelming effect of his medical and mental health issues on his day to day functioning. While there is no published research or theoretical rationale suggesting that any medical conditions or medications would cause erroneous polygraph examination results, some of ********'s medications may affect the quality and responsiveness of sympathetic nervous system reactions monitored by the polygraph instrument. As a result, there may be some increased likelihood of obtaining an unresolved or inconclusive test result. Clinical commonsense suggests that persons who function optimally while taking prescription medications should produce polygraph test data of optimal interpretable quality while taking any necessary medications. There is no way to predict the exact effects of medications for any individual, and medication effects will vary with the types and numbers of medication, dosages, length of time on medications, and with individual physiology. Ethical empirical practices dictate that the application of normative data and normative interpretive thresholds to exceptional individuals (i.e., persons whose functional characteristics are outside the normal distribution of persons in the intended sample or population) should always be regarded with caution.

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and a comment about the test data:

quote:

---

Careful inspection of ********'s polygraph examination record revealed test data of marginal interpretable quality, due to substantial dampening of electrodermal response throughout the examination, in addition some instability and lability in cardiovascular response data throughout the test. Despite the loss of some interpretable test data, the remainder of ********'s examination record was sufficiently free of artifacts and distorted segments to complete a standard numerical evaluation in attempt to render a qualified opinion regarding these test results.

---

Not surprisingly, this gentleman seems to have a number of inconclusive tests. Clarity around these concerns, helps temper the impulse of each new and inexperienced PO to revocate and resentence this guy based only on his polygraph results.

In Colorado, we have stated in our standards of practice that the goals for the PCSOT program include:

• disclosure of additional/unreported information,
  
• deterence of non-compliance and problem behavior, and
• decision support value of the test result
  

Any of these objectives is sufficient to use the polygraph. When the community supervision team concludes there would be no contribution to these objectives, they are justified in deciding not to use the polygraph.

r

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"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room."
--(Stanley Kubrick/Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove, 1964)