Expert Witness Blog
In The Case for Forensic Polygraph Testing in Post-Adjudication Sexual Offender Examination and Management, polygraph expert witness Ken Blackstone writes:
In 1973, in the Multnomah County Circuit of Oregon, Judge John C. Beatty, Jr. was the first to order the use of the polygraph in the management of convicted sexual offenders. Today, almost 40 years later, the number of registered sex offenders in the US and its territories exceeds half a million and they are all under some form of management. The post adjudication polygraph is used by the responsible State and Federal agencies in three common circumstances: in prisons during the incarceration of convicted sex offenders; in the community during subsequent probation and parole; and during the civil commitment of sexually dangerous persons.
The Problem
Polygraph examination is a catch-all term used to describe the use of the polygraph instrument, either as a forensic tool to determine the veracity of a statement or as a utility tool to generate statements and disclosures. While these two approaches are superficially similar their foundations are not. To equate one with the other is like comparing lightning bolts and lightning bugs
Ken Blackstone is an expert regarding polygraph examinations. He is the author of the book Polygraph, Sex Offenders, and the Court (2011, Emerson Books ISBN 978-061-5506-80-7). www.blackstonepolygraph.com