London, July 20 (IANS) Rapists and other sex offenders in Britain may be forced to take lie detector tests when they leave prison in a bid to reduce the chance of them re-offending, a media report said Friday.
According to The Guardian, lie detector tests have been found to make sex offenders more honest.
The government has been pressing for the introduction of mandatory polygraph tests, which monitors heart rate, brain activity and blood pressure.
The tests would apply to around 750 most serious sex offenders currently out on licence.
A Downing Street official said two pilot programmes in East and West Midlands conducted between April 2009 and October 2011 found that mandatory lie detector tests prompted sex offenders to be more honest.
The tests provided probation staff with more information about the potential risks the offenders pose.
It was also found that offenders make twice as many disclosures to probation staff, such as admitting that they had contacted a victim.
The report said that offenders found to have broken their licence as a result of a lie detector test would be sent back to prison.
After leaving prison, they would still have to sign a sex offenders' register, and can be banned from certain areas and from contact with certain people.
Prime Minister David Cameron is said to have been impressed with the results of the pilot tests and has asked for assessment of the costs of extending the scheme across the country.
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