B.C. minister of children and family development Mary Polak.

B.C.’s minister of children and family development has said that penile plethysmography, a controversial method of arousal testing, will no longer be used on teen sexual offenders.

“I asked staff to examine the use of this procedure and, based on the information provided, I have instructed ministry staff to permanently stop any use of this procedure on youth in provincial facilities in British Columbia,” Mary Polak said in a news release issued today (July 29).

CBC has reported that a medical technician who conducted the tests has been charged with sexual assault, adding that this was not in connection with work being performed for the government.

Young sex offenders in the program were forced to view images of nude and semi-nude kids as they heard audio descriptions of nonconsensual sex. Researchers measured their responses.

Polak noted that B.C.’s representative for children and youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, will now investigate the program which was run by Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services.

Earlier today, Nicholas Simons, the NDP MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast, told the Straight that “this type of testing for sexual offenders is inappropriate and very difficult to justify”.

“When testing of this nature is used on adults in an academic atmosphere, the ethics review and oversight is extremely high,” Simons said by phone. “And that’s with consenting adults. There is no possibility that you could consider this consensual when you’re talking about minors and when you’re talking about being incarcerated and knowing that participation in this program will not hinder your chances of getting released. This is, to me, coercion.”

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the Vancouver nonprofit Justice for Girls had called for a stop to the “invasive” practice in a July 28 press release.