By Voices . . .
The PA SOAB is a governing body established by the PA legislature among other things to establish standards by which certified treatment providers for sexual offenders are created and then enforced.
The “board” sits a collection of men and women of various professional backgrounds who have established this list of criteria.
The board primarily focuses on SVP evaluation for courts and the subsequent certification of treatment providers for SVPs.
If you dont know, SVP is a 10 cent word for Sexually Violent Predator. In PA a seperate hearing is established after a conviction to determine if a sexual offender is a SVP level offender. It is not so much a legal term (though it is in the law) as it is a determination made by an SOAB member who will evaluate the person in question and then inform the court. The court, not shockingly will side then most likely with said recommendation.
If a person is established as SVP not only do they have community notification and a lifetime of registration but they also have a mandatory yearly polygraph (conducted by a polygrapher who is certified to operate the toy) and mandatory minimum of monthly counseling and they are required to be responsible for all costs associated with this. Not shocking most treatment providers will routinely require mandatory weekly or bi-weekly counseling for the first few years of a person being out of prison.
What a lot of people dont know are who the board members are. In many cases they are actual treatment providers who have practices that treat sexual offenders. Talk about job security. Unofficially there may be as many as half of the establishing board and just as many of the subsequent boards who are or where treatment providers that were “lucky” enough to meet the strict requirements to be SVP treatment certified by the SOAB.
Leading to a lot of legal questions regarding conflict of interest, fraud, and abuse of the legislatures intent.
This tangled web only gets worse the more you look into it.
Why has no one looked into it?
I was convicted of a sex offense in 1985 and became a 10 year registrant. While out I married a woman with 4 kids. I registered this. I was out for 4 years and was arrested on new charges. I was classified as an SVP for 2 counts corruption of minors. I served 8 years and was maxed out. My sex offender counseling was at Somerset Children and Youth. I was told since I was maxed out I did not have to submit to polygraphs. I went to therapy for 4 years there without a single polygraph. This therapy closed so I had to go to F.A.A.C.T. in Johnstown, PA. I was now mandated by them to submit to a polygraph. I admitted to looking at an image of a young boy in the shower via internet but as soon as this image and others came up I deleted them right away. My friend confirmed this to police. My arresting officer told me if I were not an SVP, none of the images would be an issue but as an SVP any image, even in an illustrated Bible, of a nude child is child pornography. I wanted to fight my case but my public defender told me that with my past if he were on the jury he’d find me guilty, what choice did I have? I was given 2-7 years for criminal use communication facility. I served all 7, I was released April 22,2022. I am now told I must submit to 2 polygraphs this year and once a year after that. I am scared to death of polygraphs. The polygraph examiner turned my words around and made statements I didn’t make. I’m 57 years old and don’t want to go back to prison simply because I couldn’t pass a polygraph. What can I do? Please help.
There is no such thing as a SVP statue… All SVP provisions are governed by the registration statues… Thus alot of what the treatment providers tell you is myths… There is no law and never has been where a Non supervised SVP is subject to lifetime 1 time a year polygraphs…. That is a made up law and the registration statues will confirm that….. You need to seek legal counsel
Hi Josh, I’m curious where you heard that. I think the Adam Walsh act stated this stipulation and also Megan’s law itself. I’m in an entire group of SVPs who all have the same requirements. I do have a lawyer retained working on my designation and we talked about this as well. Pennsylvania is the only state that requires all of this for life as far as I know.
Michael
Here in Florida, most of us are on for life.
I started out just having to register one time. Then two times a year then 4. There was no registry when my crime occurred, or when I was arrested, or when I was sentenced. And yet, here I am 31 years later having lifetime registration. They retroactively applied to almost all with a sex crime for life.
The SVP designation is just a matter of keeping someone in PA in the system forever so the money keeps flowing forever. I pay $325 per polygraph every year. If we fail one, we retake take it so they can make more money, we get asked the same questions three months later and then we pass? That’s proof the polygraph is junk science right there. My crime was one count of invasion of privacy with NO minors involved and they made me an SVP. The woman who gave me this designation told my lawyer if somone didn’t submit to her test, she gives them the SVP designation. That’s sociopathic. So now I have a multiple life sentence for a low level misdemeanor. Oh she also had a smile on her face when she did it and accounts for 1/3 of the SVPs in the state and has been investigated multiple times for it. I think it’s funny that my polygraph packet says “therapeutic polygraph examination” yeah it’s sooooo therapeutic.
Michael
Are you on probation? Even when I was on probation they never made me take a polygraph. And if you are not on probation, I would like to see the law that requires someone on the registry who is not on any sentencing phase still, required to take a polygraph. And $325 that you have to pay? Something smells fishy in your area and it is not the river.
I am still on probation and all SVPs have to take an annual polygraph forever and do treatment once a month forever in the state of PA. You weren’t required to do this? I’ve even lived in Central PA and had to do this. Was your sentencing a long time ago?
SVP’s in PA are required to take annual polygraph tests and pay out of pocket. I lived in Central PA and now in Montgomery County in the east. It’s the same everywhere. Was your sentencing a long time ago? I’m not sure how you didn’t have to do this. They also have total faith in the polygraphs like it’s a magical mind reading machine. If we fail too many times we get dropped from treatment and that’s a violation of probation too.
Michael
I was sentenced in Florida. My offense was in 1991. Arrested in 1992 and sentenced in 1993. Got released in 1997 but still had to register for life. Never took a polygraph even when I was on probation. And off of probation if they are making you do them, someone needs to file a lawsuit as forcing someone to take a polygraph that is not on probations sure seems like probation to me. Do any other felons have to take polygraphs when their sentence is over? Can you quote the statue that states they can force you to take a polygraph once you completed your sentence? lawyers should be all over that.
Last polygraph I took was in 1987 when I got hired for a job.
My crime was a low level misdemeanor and I think because of the time of your offense, you don’t have to take the polygraph. Also in PA, you can be a registrant for life and not be an SVP. Only SVP’S have to take the poly for life even after probation. Here in PA all registrants have to take the polygraph once a year until probation or treatment is over. For SVPs, treatment and polygraphs are forever no matter what.
The SVP is pure BS and a scam the courts perpetrate on every sex offender real or not. SVP determination is only valid on actual “sexually violent” offenders so, why do they do it on someone who has only looked at child porn? It does not apply, there was no contact or real sex.
There are many different levels of killing someone so, why is there only one level of “Sexual Abuse of a Child”? If one has child porn it is “Possession of Child Porn” NOT Sex abuse of a child. so why is it under that heading? for maximum shock and political cash. For example, they do not put possession of marijuana under Drug Cartel/Murder/Trafficking? I mean people are killed and tortured in the drug trade but just because you have some marijuana does not mean you participated in it.
Call the crime what it actually is, do not embellish just so you can make it sound like you got someone dangerous.
Recidivism percentages are also skewed wrong. If you commit a sex crime and are convicted then 2 years later you get convicted of shoplifting or stolen property tat is NOT recidivism as you did not commit a crime in the same category. Yes you committed a crime but it was not sexual yet the data will look like you committed another sex crime and the politicians will say that sex offenders keep offending and use that false data to enact more dumb law and extend registrations.
Where are all the rainbow people to fight against this injustice? This is in regards to pedophiles only as they are born with it just as gays are. Hurting someone is still a crime no matter who you are.
I still can’t grasp how the polygraph is allowed to be used for anything. Not only is there no science that it works, there’s plenty of science that proves it doesn’t work. If you haven’t read the ebook, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, it’s very enlightening. After reading the book I took a polygraph and confounded the examiner to get a “inconclusive” result because even in their pathetic made up world where they live, they have rules to follow for a “good” result.
Psychologists are another animal. Their professional ethics require that they use only science-based treatments. Polygraphs are neither science nor treatment. The courts cannot compel a psych to violate their professional ethics, see why doctors don’t participate in executions anymore.
It’s time we just picked the worst offenders of this pseudo crap and made an example out of them. They need to be sued into the stone age for violating their professional ethics amongst many other violations. I’ve watched up close in multiple settings where everyone gets the same “treatment” whether they need it or not. One claimed that the group sessions were both diagnostic and treatment at the same time! It’s a miracle! There’s was one man in a group who needed serious mental health treatment but he couldn’t get it because they psych just wanted him to straighten up and fly right. These people don’t care about us, we are just a meal ticket for them.
As always, one step forward, ten steps back. The more we push for more freedom, or dare I say abolishment of the registries all together, the more severe restrictions get put on us. And remember, the courts have stated time and time again, these are “Not” punishments. My Dad use to tell me that when he would beat the Hell out of me with a belt. (Still love you Dad)