Using polygraph testing to assess deviant sexual history of sex offenders

Abstract

Information was extracted from 127 archival clinical case files of adult males who acknowledged committing some sex offense or sexually deviant behavior. Subjects' self-reports about deviant sexual behavior were recorded at three different points in the evaluation process: (1) On referral, (2) After clinical interviews and (3) After sexual history polygraph testing. Using polygraph testing as an adjunct to clinical interviews added significantly to subjects' reports of the number of incidents of deviant sexual behavior and to the number of different types of sexual deviancy. Public policy decisions and clinical interventions with sex offenders should include assumptions that sex offenders probably have more extensive deviant histories than would be known without polygraph testing.