Kim English

Kim English served as Research Director for the Office of Research and Statistics within the Division of Criminal Justice at the Colorado Department of Public Safety. Her work was supported by the National Institute of Justice and focused on evaluating sex offender management practices. As a government researcher, she led multiple federally funded studies examining how criminal justice agencies supervise and manage sex offenders in community settings.

English's primary contribution to polygraph science lies in her pioneering research on post-conviction sex offender testing (PCSOT) as part of the broader containment approach to sex offender management. Her landmark 2000 study examined the use of the post-conviction polygraph examination through observations, literature review, case law analysis, and field research in 17 jurisdictions across 7 states. The research found that polygraph testing was being used in 26 percent of all sex offenders under supervision, with 64 percent using it to monitor compliance, 52 percent to obtain sexual history, and 46 percent when offenders were in denial. Her findings demonstrated that 76 percent of probation and parole supervisors reported that post-conviction polygraph enhances knowledge of the offender and 67 percent said it led to better case management.

English, along with colleagues Pullen and Jones, developed the containment approach based on their study of best practices across the country, which became a widely adopted model integrating specialized supervision, sex-offense-specific treatment, and polygraph assessment. Her work included conducting national telephone surveys of 699 probation and parole supervisors regarding their use of polygraph examination in adult sex offender management. She collaborated extensively with Linda Jones, Diane Patrick, Diane Pasini-Hill, and Sydney Cooley-Towell on multiple NIJ-funded studies that established empirical foundations for using polygraph testing as a supervision and treatment tool in sex offender populations.