A professional polygrapher has an influential role in rewriting the rules in Colorado for how often their profession conducts lie-detector testing on sex offenders, an arrangement that critics have called a conflict of interest.
Colorado will pay Jeff Jenks’ Wheat Ridge polygraph firm, Amich & Jenks Inc., up to $1.9 million to polygraph sex offenders in prison from 2010 to 2020, according to state contracts. Full Article
Kick him off the management board. Polygraphers are not professionals. At minimum they are scammers and at maximum wastes of human potential.
Another article in the same paper questions the accuracy and cost of lie detectors.
“Colorado’s pricey polygraph testing of sex offenders under fire as critics target accuracy, expense”
Psychologist calls state’s $5 million polygraph program “grossly excessive” as state legislature examines cost
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/05/14/colorado-does-not-require-polygraph-testing-of-most-parolees-but-sex-offenders-get-different-treatment/
“Those standards currently require all sex offenders to take a polygraph every six months and, if they show deception or inconclusive results, to keep taking the polygraph within every 60 days until they show no deception.”
This shows just how stupid the whole process is. Apparently they don’t do anything with the results (not that they should or that the results are valid) beyond make a person retake? So let’s just keep testing the person until either the time frame queried no longer causes the person stress, or the person is so inured they can pass any polygraph with flying colors.
Another problem I have with this is that it sure sounds like blatant 4th and 5th Amendment issues. Nowhere does the article indicate the RCs are under any sort of supervision, so what gives the State the right to even subject its citizens to this process? Another “regulation,” or perhaps it may actually rise to punishment, even in the eyes of SCOTUS.
Finally, if it’s such a great system to prevent recidivism, why not use the same process on offenders of every stripe? Maybe CO could become the first “Minority Report” state and stop drug deals, robberies, etc., before they happen. (Please note sarcasm.)
–AJ
Something I think we all knew, it was Never about the truth and always about the MONEY. Conflict of interest ya”ll think?
I went to comment on the article and it says “Comments for this thread are now closed.” There are 0 comments. I have e-mailed the author to ask why they are not accepting comments.
Just like the rest of the “s*x offender” witch hunt, there are no legitimate reasons to use polygraphs because of prior s*x crimes and not for other crimes. The criminal regimes likely just think they couldn’t get away with harassing and stealing from people who have committed non-s*x crimes.
Thief Jeff Jenks should not be on that board or even have any influence on it. That is clearly a conflict of interest. But it is like so many other things that these criminals do – they will do whatever they can get away with. And even when they are forced to stop stealing, they won’t be punished. What do they have to lose?
Remember that all people who support the witch hunt are harassing terrorists and enemies of all good Americans. Make them pay.
They started doing this in California this year. Not quite as blanket as this, but at least our county has implemented random poly compliance testing. The really bad part about this is that if you’re on probation the burden of cost falls on you (parole’s have all costs like this covered by the state). So if you’re homeless or struggling with money, the $300-$400 per poly 2+ times a year is an insanely huge burden for no gain at all.