SEX offenders released from prison are likely to face compulsory lie detector tests after research in the North-East.
The Home Office intends to introduce a law to force sex offenders released from prison to take US-style polygraph tests.
The move is the culmination of research that began in the North-East in 2001.
The initial experiment, which involved 30 offenders, was supervised by American-born Professor Don Grubin ,of Newcastle University.
This first trial in 2001 led to a much larger study involving 200 convicted sex offenders across the UK.
According to The Independent newspaper, 85 per cent of offenders involved in the larger trial either failed the test or disclosed information relating to their reoffending.
Within this group, about two-thirds disclosed information that was not known to their probation officers.
Prof Grubin said the results were startling.
The use of compulsory lie detector tests is expected to be included in the forthcoming Management of Offenders and Sentencing Bill.
It is expected that a new regulatory body will oversee the training of polygraph operators.
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