Texas sex offender & mandatory polygraph

[stefano]

You might be surprized just how young some of these lying "victims" are these days! 

Yes, I agree, especially when their young impressionable minds are manipulated by tunnel visioned police, social workers, therapists, prosecutors etc. bent on molding the truth to fit their paranoid suspicions.

[pailryder]

stefano

Do you really believe that police and prosecutors routinely manipulate children to convict innocent people of sexual offenses?

[stefano]

Not routinely, but often enough that when combined with the known false positive rates it becomes a real formula for disaster. Moreover, I don't suspect them of doing it intentionally, but rather as a result of their "witch hunt" mentality. Look for a dear hard enough and you'll eventually see antlers on your hunting buddy's head.

[stefano]

"deer" not "dear"

[pailryder]

stefano

What is the know rate of false positives for sexual offender testing?

[stefano]

It depends on who you ask, Kokish, Levenson & Blasingame indicated 8 out of an N of 95, Madsen and Grubin 21 out of 51. There are others, but sample sets are smaller.

[pailryder]

stefano

Are you citing Accuracy and Utility of Post-Conviction Sex Offenders, the British Journal of Psychiarty (2006) by Don Grubin, MD and Lars Masden MClin Psy?

That article states:

Conclusion

The results support the view that the polygraph is both accurate and useful in the treatment and supervision of sex offenders.

[stefano]

You and others have this view because you consider the false positives the price of doing business.

[stefano]

If you look past that warm and fuzzy conclusion, you will see the false positive rate was 16%.

[antipolygraphrso]

stefano

Truth be told, I do love a good confession.  You might be surprized just how young some of these lying "victims" are these days!

Your just as sick as the 'criminals' your trying to treat.
That whole 'profession' *cough, cough, I mean racket* is filled to the brim with people just as anxious to get off as the molesters that are in there.

[antipolygraphrso]

I was given a polygraph test post-conviction and failed miserably. I spent 3+ hours with the polygrapher going over Trial testimony, Police reports, and my version of "what happened". I brought a series of questions I wanted asked by the polygrapher based directly on the testimony of the "victim".  I did my research and formulated the questions in a Yes/No format which I believed was best suited for the test. I spoke to the polygrapher days before the exam to inform him there were questions I wanted asked and that he could ask whatever he wanted of me. When I arrived for the scheduled exam he had not prepared a single question for the test (or so he claimed) and he explained that any "good polygrapher" would not prepare questions in advance and that they would wait to confer with the person being examined to "formulate the questions together". His reasoning was that he wanted to hear my side of the story and that he only had the "victims statement" to draw questions from. I explained to him that It didn't matter what I had to say, the conviction was based on the "victims" testimony and that I would have expected him to be prepared (as I was). He insisted that he hear my side of the alleged events to get a more balanced view and to formulate the questions more accurately. As I stated earlier this took over 3 hours and what it boiled down to was a series of 10 questions which a monkey could have compiled in a matter of minutes including "What's your name?...and...Did you ever put your penis in the victim". Apparently it took him 3 hours of re-hashing the entire Trial testimony to formulate these questions. My questions were more specific which would have covered this issue along with the details in which the "victim" lied...but it was explained that my questions were "Judicial questions" and not "Polygraph questions". Again, these questions were in simple Yes/No format...but he simply wanted nothing to do with them. As it turned out I failed with a -10. He explained the scoring method as follows...-15 to -4 is Deceptive...-3 to +3 is inconclusive...+4 to +15 is truthful. He reviewed the questions with me and showed me the score for each individual question and my highest score was a +2 (and there was only one of those)...everything else was lower. Keep in mind that each question was asked 3 times. Also keep in mind that, as I stated earlier, one of the questions was MY NAME! Based on this scoring I apparently even lied about my own name? I couldn't even score a +4 (which is only the begining of the truthful range) ON MY OWN NAME?

I've realized over the years that Law enforcement has absolutely no interest in the truth in these types of cases. Their only interest is in securing a conviction. By Hook or by Crook...the end always justifies the means. Until we deal with the TRUTH in these cases we will never be able to differentiate good cases from bad. We will continue with useless legislation and "feel good" laws that are not only ineffective but downright dangerous.

When will we as a Nation say...enough is enough?

When we're all on the registry?   

Polygraphers either want to be your 'friend' or think they are 'Masters of the Universe'.

And yea, either way, Sex Offender treatment (at least the poly parts) are a racket. Plain, clean and simple.

[Polyfear]

I have read a lot of interesting information on this board and I'm hoping that perhaps someone can give me advice on my current situation.
I am currently on probation in the state of Texas and although I am not required to register as a sex offender, certain SO conditions were put in place for the tenure of my probation.
The Judge made multiple modifications to my probation conditions which included lessening community service hours, allowing for use of computers\internet and a few others. The most important modification involves the removal of required polygraph testing.
Recently I was informed by my PO that I am scheduled for a Polygraph. After reviewing my probation conditions I informed my PO that it is not a requirement. My PO informed me that in the past they have had a handful of probationers with similar modifications and they were not required to take the test. The problem however lies with the fact that they have a new Sex Offender Therapist and he requires all offenders in his program to take the test once a year.
I felt like I was receiving a threat or ultimatum since I was informed that I could choose not to take the polygraph however, the Therapist would likely remove me from the treatment program. Since i have to attend the program, this would in turn lead to the revoking of my probation.

The condition that the Judge removed starts like this: "Defendant shall submit to a clinical polygraph examination as directed by the Sex Offender Therapist......". The way I see it, it would appear that the Sex Offender Therapist shouldn't be able to over rule a judge and would then need to file for a change of conditions to the courts before I can be "forced" to take a polygraph.

Any helpful advice or opinions are appreciated. I am scheduled for the test this weekend.

[stefano]

Polyfear,

I can certainly understand your frustration. This is a matter for your attorney. Nobody online can give you legal advice in this regard. Anecdotally, I know the judge normally just orders SO treatment, and if polygraph testing is a component, so be it. I encourage you to discuss this with your attorney now, before making any decision on submitting/refusing polygraph interrogation.

[anon12345]

So, I didn't know this before coming to the site, but poly graphs pick-up excitement that otherwise would manifest itself benignly.

This could include a state of arousal coming from the questioning about what must correlate strongly with real-life events of a sexual nature.

Understand that, in the brain, we have a set of schemas. I am no psychologist but, just maybe, a person might fail a polygraph because the polygraph's schema is of an absurdly fearful nature - unreliable and dangerous with one's future resting on it.

Best of luck and may your wishes come true!

IDK about anyone else or how the brain functions in regard to a polygraph. But in my experience telling the truth then being told your lying really shook me up. So I lied on the next 7 poly's and the examiner said I passed every single one of them. I figured with treatment and poly's...I think I paid a total of around 12,000 what a waist!!

[anon12345]

Being too calm might mark you a psychotic / sociopath.

This statement here I couldn't agree more, I think that is also a plausible reason as well as the examiners b.s.ing their way on polygraph's. I think most of the time why people fail is merely just being nervous, anxiety or maybe even having a disorder.