ABSTRACT

The maintenance polygraph is used to assess sex offenders’ compliance with treatment and supervision requirements in the community. Existing research on the utility of this practice focuses on overall exam outcomes and effects, without analysing the disclosures that sex offenders make or the questions that cause failed and inconclusive outcomes. This study analyses item-level data from Denver, Colorado on disclosures and questions to assess the tension between the maintenance polygraph’s contribution to public safety and potential negative consequences such as inaccurate outcomes, financial cost, conflict of interest concerns, and the reinforcement of social disadvantage. We find that subjects rarely make serious disclosures during the exam process and that a substantial portion of subjects must retake the exam despite not registering as deceptive on any question. Findings suggest that in order to best determine the utility of the maintenance polygraph for different types of sex offenders, decision-makers should consider item-level data in their assessments.

摘要

维持测谎仪用于评估性犯罪者对社区治疗和监督要求的遵守情况。现有关于这种做法的效用的研究侧重于整体考试结果和效果，而没有分析性犯罪者所做的披露或导致失败和不确定结果的问题。本研究分析来自科罗拉多州丹佛市关于披露和问题的项目级数据，以评估维护测谎仪对公共安全的贡献与潜在的负面后果（如不准确的结果、财务成本、利益冲突问题和社会劣势加剧）之间的紧张关系. 我们发现，受试者在考试过程中很少做出认真的披露，并且很大一部分受试者必须重新参加考试，尽管在任何问题上都没有注册为欺骗性的。研究结果表明，为了最好地确定维护测谎仪对不同类型性犯罪者的效用，决策者应在评估中考虑项目级数据。