British Columbia re-examines sex test

VICTORIA, British Columbia, July 29 (UPI) -- British Columbia has dropped use of a device aimed at determining whether teens have deviant sexual tendencies while it investigates the test.

The "penile plethysmograph" is attached to the genitals while a teenage boy views pornography and listens to erotica. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the government child welfare watchdog, said she only learned about the device last week from the provincial Civil Liberties Association, the Vancouver Sun reported.

The Youth Forensic Psychiatric Service has tested teenagers referred by the courts for 20 years to determine whether they are likely to commit new sex crimes.

"I doubt there's a judge in B.C. who has any idea that adolescents being referred to this service are being shown pornographic material while having a device attached to their penis," Turpel-Lafond said.

Annabel Webb, head of Justice for Girls, called the device "abusive."

Robert Holmes, president of the Civil Liberties Association, suggested there are also questions about the test's reliability, calling it "problematic."