Polygraph testing leads to better understanding adult and juvenile sex offenders

Federal Probation

Volumn 65, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 8-15

  Hindman, Jan ^a,b   Peters, James M ^b  

^a Hindman Foundation   (United States)

^b Box 87 ^*  (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0035565144     PISSN: 00149128     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. David R. Walters, Physical and Sexual Abuse of Children, Causes and Treatment, 139-141 (Indiana University Press) (1975).
2. Anna Salter, Transforming Trauma: A Guide to Understanding and Treating Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, 6-10 (Sage) (1995).
3. See e.g., Commonwealth v. Hill, 2001 WL 557579, *1 (Va. Cir. Ct. 2001); State v. Reed, 48 S.W.3d 856, *859 (Tex. App. 2001); State v. Riles, 957 P.2d 655 (Wa. 1998); United States v. Wilson, 172 F. 3d 50 (6th Cir. 1998) (unpublished - text in Westlaw). The requirement that participants in treatment admit to their crimes is widely believed to be a necessary prerequisite to successful treatment. See Brendan J. Shevlin, "[B]etween the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea:" A Look at the Fifth Amendment Implications of Probation Programs for Sex Offenders Requiring Mandatory Admissions of Guilt, 88 KY. L.J. 485, 485 (2000); Jonathan Kaden, Therapy for Convicted Sex Offenders: Pursuing Rehabilitation Without Incrimination, 89 J.CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 347, 365 n. 103(1998); Scott Michael Solkoff, Judicial Use Immunity and the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination in Court Mandated Therapy Programs, 17 NOVA L.REV. 1441, 1450 (1993).
4. See e.g., Commonwealth v. Hill, 2001 WL 557579, *1 (Va. Cir. Ct. 2001); State v. Reed, 48 S.W.3d 856, *859 (Tex. App. 2001); State v. Riles, 957 P.2d 655 (Wa. 1998); United States v. Wilson, 172 F. 3d 50 (6th Cir. 1998) (unpublished - text in Westlaw). The requirement that participants in treatment admit to their crimes is widely believed to be a necessary prerequisite to successful treatment. See Brendan J. Shevlin, "[B]etween the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea:" A Look at the Fifth Amendment Implications of Probation Programs for Sex Offenders Requiring Mandatory Admissions of Guilt, 88 KY. L.J. 485, 485 (2000); Jonathan Kaden, Therapy for Convicted Sex Offenders: Pursuing Rehabilitation Without Incrimination, 89 J.CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 347, 365 n. 103(1998); Scott Michael Solkoff, Judicial Use Immunity and the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination in Court Mandated Therapy Programs, 17 NOVA L.REV. 1441, 1450 (1993).
5. See e.g., Commonwealth v. Hill, 2001 WL 557579, *1 (Va. Cir. Ct. 2001); State v. Reed, 48 S.W.3d 856, *859 (Tex. App. 2001); State v. Riles, 957 P.2d 655 (Wa. 1998); United States v. Wilson, 172 F. 3d 50 (6th Cir. 1998) (unpublished - text in Westlaw). The requirement that participants in treatment admit to their crimes is widely believed to be a necessary prerequisite to successful treatment. See Brendan J. Shevlin, "[B]etween the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea:" A Look at the Fifth Amendment Implications of Probation Programs for Sex Offenders Requiring Mandatory Admissions of Guilt, 88 KY. L.J. 485, 485 (2000); Jonathan Kaden, Therapy for Convicted Sex Offenders: Pursuing Rehabilitation Without Incrimination, 89 J.CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 347, 365 n. 103(1998); Scott Michael Solkoff, Judicial Use Immunity and the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination in Court Mandated Therapy Programs, 17 NOVA L.REV. 1441, 1450 (1993).
6. The data discussed in this article was collected through the Malheur County Court approved local treatment program, sanctioned and supported by the Malheur County Interagency Multi-disciplinary Child Abuse Team in Oregon, and by Jan Hindman at several other sources mentioned in the text.
7. David R. Walters, Physical and Sexual Abuse of Children: Causes and Treatment, 111 (Indiana University Press) (1975).
8. Louise Armstrong, Kiss Daddy Goodnight: A Speak-Out on Incest (Simon & Schuster) (1976).
9. L. Smith, Private Possession of Child Pornography: Narrowing At-Home Privacy Rights, 1991 Ann. Surv. Am. L. 1011, 1013, n.19 (1992).
10. Robin Lloyd, For Love or Money: Boy Prostitution in America (Beacon Hill) (1976).
11. Judith Herman, Father-Daughter Incest (Harvard University Press) (1981).
12. A. Nicholas Groth, Men Who Rape: The Psychology of the Offender (Plenum Press) (1979).
13. Child Pornography and Pedophilia, Report of U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations 99-537 (1986).
14. For an online listing of every state's laws regarding child pornography, visit the Internet Law Library at: 〈http://law.house.gov/17.htm〉.
15. Barbara J. Nelson, Making an Issue of Child Abuse: Political Agenda Setting for Social Problems, 76 (University of Chicago Press) (1984).
16. See, for example, Title 42 U.S.C. §13031; Title 18 U.S.C. § 2258. See also the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse & Neglect Information 〈http:// www.calib.com/nccanch/〉.
17. However, the number of cases of child sexual abuse coming to the attention of child welfare authorities in the United States has declined 31 percent since 1992. See Lisa Jones & David Finkelhor, The Decline in Child Sexual Abuse Cases, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, January 2001, 〈http://www.ncjrs.org/ pdffiles1/ojjdp/184741.pdf〉.
18. See, e.g., James M. Peters, Patricia Toth & Janet Dinsmore, "Why Prosecute Child Abuse?" 34 S.D. L. REV. 649-659 (1989).
19. 1994 National Study of Treatment Programs & Models, Serving Abuse-Reactive Children and Adolescent & Adult Sex Offenders (Safer Society Press) (1995).
20. David Finkelhor, "Current Information on the Scope and Nature of Child Sexual Abuse," p. 31 in The Future of Children, Vol. 4 No. 2, The David and Lucille Packard Foundation (1994). For more, see 〈http://www.futureofchildren.org/〉 and 〈http://www.jimhopper.com/abstats/〉.
21. Jan Hindman, Just Before Dawn: From the Shadows of Tradition to New Reflections in Trauma Assessment and Treatment of Sexual Victimization (AlexAndria Associates) (1989).
22. Jon Conte and J. Schuerman, The Effects of Sexual Abuse on Children, A Multidimensional View, 2 J. Interp. Vio., 380 (Dec. 1987).
23. Debra Whitcomb, "Child Victimization," Ch. 10, 1999 National Victim Assistance Academy, G. Coleman, M. Gaboury, M. Murray, and A. Seymour (Eds.), 〈http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ assist/nvaa99/chap10.htm〉.
24. David Finkelhor. Child Sexual Abuse: New Theory & Research, 33 (The Free Press) (1984).
25. A. Nicholas Groth, Men Who Rape: The Psychology of the Offender, 98-101 (Plenum Press) (1979).
26. Theoharis Seghorn & R. Boucher, Sexual abuse in childhood as a factor in adult sexually dangerous criminal offenses, in J. SAMSON (ED.), CHILDHOOD AND SEXUALITY (Editions Vivantes) (1980).
27. Marie Fortune, Sexual Violence, The Unmentionable Sin, 184 (The Pilgrim Press) (1983).
28. C. Widom, "The Cycle of Violence," Research in Brief. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, September 1992.
29. C. Widom, "Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse -Later Criminal Consequences." Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, 1995.
30. Compare Elizabeth Loftus & Katherine Ketcham, The Myth of Repressed Memory, (St. Martin's Press) (1994), with Ross E. Cheit's Recovered Memory Project at Brown University, which claims to have documented 80 corroborated cases of recovered memory. See 〈http://www.brown.edu/Departments/ Taubman Center/Recovmem/Archive.html〉.
31. Sharon Begley, "What Is a Pedophile?" Newsweek, Mar. 19, 2001, at 48.
32. See James M. Peters, "Assessment and Management of Sex Offenders: What Prosecutors Need to Know," in Prosecuting Online Child Prostitution Cases (J. PETERS ED.) (United States Department of Justice, USABook) (in press), explaining that sex offenders tend to have distorted thinking (cognitive distortions) that helps them deny, minimize, justify, and rationalize their aberrant behavior, and also reduce guilt and responsibility for that behavior. Cognitive distortions are what allow the abuser to overcome inhibitions and ultimately progress from fantasy to behavior. See e.g., Father Says He Raped Girl To Teach Her About Sex, Associated Press, April 9, 2001, describing the sentencing of a Charleston, West Virginia man who "says he repeatedly raped his 13-year-old daughter to teach her about sex and birth control insists he acted 'from a parent's point of view and not a pervert's.'"
33. See James M. Peters, "Assessment and Management of Sex Offenders: What Prosecutors Need to Know," in Prosecuting Online Child Prostitution Cases (J. PETERS ED.) (United States Department of Justice, USABook) (in press), explaining that sex offenders tend to have distorted thinking (cognitive distortions) that helps them deny, minimize, justify, and rationalize their aberrant behavior, and also reduce guilt and responsibility for that behavior. Cognitive distortions are what allow the abuser to overcome inhibitions and ultimately progress from fantasy to behavior. See e.g., Father Says He Raped Girl To Teach Her About Sex, Associated Press, April 9, 2001, describing the sentencing of a Charleston, West Virginia man who "says he repeatedly raped his 13-year-old daughter to teach her about sex and birth control insists he acted 'from a parent's point of view and not a pervert's.'"
34. R. Karl Hanson & M.T. Bussiere, Predicting Relapse, A Meta-Analysis of Sexual Offender Recidivism Studies, 66 J. CONSULTING & CLINICAL PSYCHOL., No. 2, 348-62 (1998), also available at 〈http:// www.sgc.gc.ca/〉, and cited in State v. Sedgmer, 2000 WL 863184, 7 (Ohio Com. Pl., June 8, 2000 (No. 99-219CR).
35. Jacques DeKalb was the District Attorney in Malheur County who originally granted conditional immunity for previously undisclosed sexual offenses. Pat Sullivan and Dan Norris, who succeeded him in that office, continued the practice.
36. Other programs ask more pointed questions, such as "besides the seven victims you have told me about, have you ever forced anyone else to have sexual contact with you." Peggy Heil, Colorado Department of Corrections, email communication, January 29, 2001.
37. Jan Hindman & James M. Peters, Research Disputes Assumptions About Child Molesters, 7 Nat'l. Dist. Attorneys Ass'n Bulletin 1, 3 (July/August 1988). These results were also published in James M. Peters, Patricia Toth, & Janet Dinsmore, Why Prosecute Child Abuse?, 34 S.D. L. REV. 649 (1989), and under the same title in THE PROSECUTOR, vol. 23, no. 2, p. 30, 33 (1990).
38. Jan Hindman & James M. Peters, Research Disputes Assumptions About Child Molesters, 7 Nat'l. Dist. Attorneys Ass'n Bulletin 1, 3 (July/August 1988). These results were also published in James M. Peters, Patricia Toth, & Janet Dinsmore, Why Prosecute Child Abuse?, 34 S.D. L. REV. 649 (1989), and under the same title in THE PROSECUTOR, vol. 23, no. 2, p. 30, 33 (1990).
39. Jan Hindman & James M. Peters, Research Disputes Assumptions About Child Molesters, 7 Nat'l. Dist. Attorneys Ass'n Bulletin 1, 3 (July/August 1988). These results were also published in James M. Peters, Patricia Toth, & Janet Dinsmore, Why Prosecute Child Abuse?, 34 S.D. L. REV. 649 (1989), and under the same title in THE PROSECUTOR, vol. 23, no. 2, p. 30, 33 (1990).
40. See supra, endnote 19.
41. The offenders had all pled guilty, usually to intra-familial sex crimes. The therapists were the same, the program requirements were the same and all had use immunity agreements from the District Attorney.
42. See: Sean Ahlmeyer, Peggy Heil, Bonita McKee & Kim English, The Impact of Polygraphy on Admissions of Victims and Offenses in Adult Sexual Offenders, 12 SEXUAL ABUSE: J. RES. & TREATMENT, 123, 129 (April 2000) (also citing previous published research findings achieving similar results. See the Colorado Department of Corrections web site, 〈http://www.doc.state.co.us/Sex%20Offenders/ Research.htm#Reasearch〉.
43. Brian Holmgren, Forging New Alliances - Proposals for Change in Managing Sex Offenders Within the Criminal Justice System, in THE SEX OFFENDER: THEORETICAL ADVANCES, TREATING SPECIAL POPULATIONS AND LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS, VOL. III, (B. SCHWARTZ, ED.) (1999).
44. See State v. Jacobson, 977 P.2d 1250 (Wa. App. 1999) rev. den. 11 P. 3d 825 (2000) (the Court of Appeals declared that a trial judge did not err in ordering a juvenile sex offender to undergo polygraph testing as part of a court-ordered evaluation, and in admitting evidence about the test results at a disposition hearing); Ex Parte Charles Anthony Renfro, 999 S.W.2d 557 (Tx. App.1999) pet. for disc'y rev. ref'd (Jan 19, 2000)(a polygraph requirement was a reasonably related probation condition that did not violate convicted child molesters' right against self-incrimination); United States v. Wilson, 172 F. 3d 50, **3 (6th Cir. 1998) (unpublished) (decision allows the United States Probation Office to use both polygraphy and penile plethysmograph during an offender's term of supervised release); Searcy v. Simmons, 97 F. Supp. 2d 1055 (D. Kan. 2000) (reviewing the case law and holding that requiring inmates in a sex offender treatment program to participate in penile plethysmograph examinations did not violate their substantive due process rights); Lile v. McKune, 224 F.3d 1175 (10th Cir. 2000) (treatment program's requirement that inmate disclose his sexual history in a way that could subject him to criminal prosecution intrudes upon inmates Fifth Amendment rights); See also, Joel E. Smith, Annotation, "Admissibility in Evidence of Confession Made by Accused in Anticipation of, During, or Following Polygraph Examination," 89 ALR3d 230 (1979 (June 2000 Supplement).
45. See Annotation, Propriety of Conditioning Probation on Defendant's Submission to Polygraph or Other Lie Detector Testing, 86 A.L.R.4th 709, S 9(a) at 726-27 (1991). See also State v. Naone, 990 P.2d 1171, 1182-87 (Hawaii App.1999); People v. Miller, 208 Cal.App.3d 1311, 256 Cal.Rptr. 587 (1989); Mann v. State, 269 S.E.2d 863 (Ga.1980) (a condition requiring a probationer to submit to polygraph tests every two months did not violate probationers' right against self-incrimination, and such condition could be imposed, in the discretion of a trial judge, with no more than a general finding of the court that it was reasonably necessary to accomplish purpose of probation).
46. Risdon N. Slate & Patrick R. Anderson, Lying Probationers and Parolees: The Issue of Polygraph Surveillance, 60 FED. PROBATION 54-58 (1996). See also Washington v. Jacobsen, 977 P.2d 1250 (Wash. Ct. App. 1999) (mere fact that juvenile was ordered to attend pre-sentence evaluation and undergo polygraph testing did not render it "custodial" or "compelled" so as to make Fifth Amendment privilege self-executing and it was not error to admit evidence about the test results at a disposition hearing).
47. Commonwealth v. Hill, 2001 WL 557579, *2 (Va. Cir. Ct. 2001).
48. State v. Reyes, 2 P.3d 725, 727 (Hawaii App., 2000).
49. Bankes v. Simmons, 265 Kan. 341, 963 P.2d 412, cert. denied, Hannigan v. Stansbury, 119 S.Ct. 629 (1998).
50. Carswell v. State, 721 N.E.2d 1255, 1265 (Ind. App. 1999) (noting that "[t]he purpose behind this condition is to help ensure that offenders fully reveal their sexual histories, information that is essential to the development of effective treatment programs. The goal of polygraph examination is to obtain information necessary for risk management and treatment, and to reduce the sex offender's denial mechanisms." Id. at 1266, fn. 9.
51. Commonwealth v. Hill, 2001 WL 557579 (Va. Cir. Ct. 2001); Mangarella v. Stete, 17 P.3d 989 (NV 2001).
52. State v. Crowe, 952 P.2d 1245 (Idaho 1998).
53. Ibid. Accord United States v. Phelps, 955 F.2d 1258, 1263 (9th Cir. 1992); and United States v. Gonzalez-Mares, 752 F.2d 1485, 1489 (9th Cir. 1985).
54. State v. Dods, 941 P.2d 1116 (Wash. Ct. App. 1997).
55. James M. Peters, Assessment and Treatment of Sex Offenders: What Attorneys Need to Know, 42 ADVOCATE (IDAHO BAR ASS'N.) 21, 22 (Dec. 1999).
56. See Polygraphy at 44-48 in Practice Standards and Guidelines for Members of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (2001). See 〈http:// www.atsa.com〉.
57. The Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) is a nonprofit organization with a membership of approximately 2,000 professionals worldwide. ATSA publishes an ethical code and practice standards and guidelines to which all members agree to adhere. To identify ATSA members in your area and to obtain a copy of the ATSA Code of Ethics or the ATSA Standards and Guidelines, contact ATSA at: 4900 S.W. Griffith Drive, Suite 274, Beaverton, OR 97005. Phone 503.643.1023; 〈http://www.atsa.com〉.
58. This condition is used in certain sex offender plea agreements prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office in the District of Idaho.
59. Ibid.
60. The authors gratefully acknowledge Susan Sachsenmaier, Ph.D., Ruth H. Williamson-Kirkland, R.N., M.S.N. Sean Ahlmeyer, Peggy Heil, and Jean McNeil for their helpful substantive comments and editorial suggestions.