U.S. Appeals Court Rejects Arousal Test for Sex Offender
`A periodic test that measures a man’s response to erotic images is “Orwellian” because it examines his mind, not just his body, and should not be used because it deprives him of more freedom than necessary, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
In order to be released from prison, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson had ruled in 2001, Matthew Weber would have to subject himself to tests in which a pressure-sensitive electronic device is placed around the penis and the response to stimulating images is monitored, said his lawyer, Jonathan Libby. [..]
“A prisoner should not be compelled to stimulate himself sexually in order for the government to get a sense of his current proclivities,” Noonan wrote in his concurrence with Judge Marsha Berzon’s opinion. “There is a line at which the government must stop. Penile plethysmography testing crosses it.”‘
