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Even before he took his scheduled exam, a paroled sex offender from Passaic County admitted fondling his grandson and acting lewdly in public. He was quickly arrested.
Another would have continued with his job “had the polygraph examination not revealed that he pursued the position specifically for the contact it provided with minors,” the report says.
He was immediately removed.
More than half of the parole officers surveyed reported an increase in offenders’ willingness to come clean during polygraphs. Meanwhile, more than a third of therapists who treat the parolees said the simple reminder that they could be tested led to admissions.
“The polygraph clearly contributes to the [Parole Board’s] ability” to increase public safety and get potential re-offenders back into treatment as part of a specific “containment” strategy, writes Heather Tubman-Carbone, author of the report, which was released today.
Polygraphs have given parole officers valuable information they might not otherwise have turned up — admission (either full or in part), failing to comply with the conditions of supervision, deviant sexual behavior, and, most importantly, behavior leading to a court order denying the parolee from living or working with or near children, the report notes.
The study involved 236 paroled sex offenders who were polygraphed, with the results leading to direct changes in managing 86 of them.
The changes included, but weren’t limited to: more stringent restrictions, tighter prohibitions on their movement, and more frequent counseling. Ten percent of the changes were directly related to contact with minors, whether it be denial of employment or of a request to live with children.
In a hopeful twist, 7% of those polygraphed had restrictions lifted or relaxed.
But here’s the kicker: “It is noteworthy that to date, the rate of arrests for new crimes or new sex crimes has not increased with this group,” Tubman-Carbone writes.
“This seems to indicate that polygraph testing allows parole officers to be more attuned to offenders’ behavior, and their enhanced supervision prevents problematic behavior from escalating into new crimes.”
Even those offenders who have pleaded guilty often deny all or part of their crimes. However, the polygraph helps “break through that denial,” either opening an avenue to better treatment or alerting the board to tighten the clamps.
That could mean adding GPS monitoring, conducting surveillance operations, requiring additional counseling, or even removing a parolee from a home or job “where the agency determines there is a risk to children.”
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