Lacey Sloan, associate professor of social work at UB, writes in the current issue of the International Journal of Medicine and Law, that routine polygraphing of sex crime victims occurs in communities in at least 17 states, and probably more. This despite the fact that the validity of polygraphs is questionable enough that very few states allow information from them to be admitted as evidence in criminal trials.

"As a method of ascertaining truth," Sloan says, "the polygraph falls in the same category as other 'truth tests,' from the dunking stool to walking on coals, that were used throughout history, but have been proven to be unreliable and invalid."

Polygraphing of sex-abuse victims tends not to take place regularly in all communities in a given state, says Sloan, but in "pockets" throughout states that permit it. Routine polygraphing does not apply to victims of other reported crimes in these states, Sloan says, and "its use with survivors of sexual assault implies that the latter are more likely to lie than victims of non-sexual crimes, despite massive evidence to the contrary."

Sloan says, "In no crime other than sexual assault has there been such an extensive history of myth and disbelief surrounding the survivors. The use of the polygraph with these people reflects a deep-seated cultural and legal bias against sex-crime victims."

Sloan's results are based on her 1990 survey of 83 rape crisis centers across the country undertaken with the assistance of the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault. She points out that a second look was undertaken last spring by the ABC program "Prime Time Live" (on which Sloan appeared), which found the situation largely unchanged across the country.

The centers originally surveyed were located in 19 states and served approximately 17 percent of the population of the United States. In 17 of the states, polygraphing of sexual assault victims prior to investigation was legally permitted and practiced.

In 12 of the states surveyed, action adverse to the complainants followed polygraph testing: Charges against alleged perpetrators were dropped in 44 percent of the cases and no investigation ensued in 50 percent of the cases.

Today six states, including New York, have laws banning or restricting law enforcement officers and prosecutors from using the tests on sexual assault survivors.