On the 13th October 2005 Claire Curtis-Thomas asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the use of polygraph tests in historical sex abuse investigations.
The Minister Paul Goggins replied
"Evidence relating to the credibility of a witness from a lie-detector has not been admitted in the courts. The main reason is that there have been concerns about the accuracy of such tests. This led the Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure to conclude in 1981 that the machine's "lack of certainty from an evidential point of view" told against its introduction in this country.
However, since 2003 the probation service has been piloting the use of polygraph examination with convicted sex offenders. The purpose is to test compliance with license conditions, risk management plans and treatment. Information from the examination can be shared with the police and other agencies. To date over 200 offenders have volunteered to be tested. During the course of examination many offenders have disclosed further information which has been useful in confirming the risk assessment or revising the risk management plan. If information were to be divulged in a polygraph test that could help in the investigation of an unsolved crime, this would, of course, be passed to the police".
Hansard reference
Acknowledgement