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Sexually violent predator laws
Some jurisdictions may commit certain types of dangerous sex offenders to state-run detention facilities following the completion of their sentence if that person has a "mental abnormality" or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in sexual offenses if not confined in a secure facility. In the United States, twenty states, the federal government, and the District of Columbia have a version of these commitment laws, which are referred to as "Sexually Violent Predator" (SVP) or "Sexually Dangerous Persons" laws.
Generally speaking, SVP laws have three elements: that the person has been convicted of a sexually violent offense (a term that is defined applicable statutes), that the person suffers from a mental abnormality and/or personality disorder, which causes their serious difficulty controlling their sexually violent behavior, and that this mental abnormality and/or personality disorder makes the person likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility.
A "mental abnormality" is a legal term that is not identical to a mental disorder, though experts generally refer to diagnoses contained in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as evidence of a mental abnormality.
In most cases, commitment as an SVP is indefinite; however, once a person is committed, the confining agency is constitutionally required to conduct periodic reviews of that person's mental condition.[citation needed] If the committed person's condition changes enough to no longer meet the commitment criteria, they must be released. In some circumstances, committed persons can be released to court-monitored conditional releases to less restrictive alternative placements (LRAs).
In 1990, the first SVP law was established in the state of Washington, following two high-profile sexual assaults and murders by Earl Kenneth Shriner and Gene Kane. In response to the attacks, Helen Harlow—the mother of Earl Shriner's victim—formed a group known as The Tennis Shoe Brigade in order to pressure the state government to change the laws related to sex offenders. Washington Governor Booth Gardner formed the Task Force on Community Protection to consider possible solutions.
While the Task Force deliberated, serial killer Westley Allan Dodd kidnapped, raped, and murdered three young boys in Vancouver, Washington, for which he was executed by hanging. The state legislature, following the recommendation of the Task Force, enacted the Community Protection Act of 1990.
The United States Supreme Court declared the "civil commitment" of former sex offenders was "civil" and non-punitive as the high court's justices presumed as true the state's empirical claim that it had a means of identifying a class of individuals, labeled by the state "sexually violent predators", who were "extremely dangerous" due to their "likelihood of engaging in repeat acts of predatory sexual violence [being] high" (Kansas v. Hendricks (1997) 521 U.S. 346, 351).
In order for the imprisoning of these individuals, without new crimes having been committed, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated that states must be able to make a distinction, between (i) the class of sex offenders who must be released after having completed their prison sentences and (ii) those who could be "civilly" detained, as this later class (unlike the former) is made up of individuals who suffered from "mental abnormalities" which caused them to have "serious difficulty in controlling behavior", thus making them distinguishable "from the dangerous but typical recidivist" that must be released (Kansas v. Crane (2002) 534 U.S. 407, 413).
Sexually violent predator laws
Some jurisdictions may commit certain types of dangerous sex offenders to state-run detention facilities following the completion of their sentence if that person has a "mental abnormality" or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in sexual offenses if not confined in a secure facility. In the United States, twenty states, the federal government, and the District of Columbia have a version of these commitment laws, which are referred to as "Sexually Violent Predator" (SVP) or "Sexually Dangerous Persons" laws.
Generally speaking, SVP laws have three elements: that the person has been convicted of a sexually violent offense (a term that is defined applicable statutes), that the person suffers from a mental abnormality and/or personality disorder, which causes their serious difficulty controlling their sexually violent behavior, and that this mental abnormality and/or personality disorder makes the person likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility.
A "mental abnormality" is a legal term that is not identical to a mental disorder, though experts generally refer to diagnoses contained in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as evidence of a mental abnormality.
In most cases, commitment as an SVP is indefinite; however, once a person is committed, the confining agency is constitutionally required to conduct periodic reviews of that person's mental condition.[citation needed] If the committed person's condition changes enough to no longer meet the commitment criteria, they must be released. In some circumstances, committed persons can be released to court-monitored conditional releases to less restrictive alternative placements (LRAs).
In 1990, the first SVP law was established in the state of Washington, following two high-profile sexual assaults and murders by Earl Kenneth Shriner and Gene Kane. In response to the attacks, Helen Harlow—the mother of Earl Shriner's victim—formed a group known as The Tennis Shoe Brigade in order to pressure the state government to change the laws related to sex offenders. Washington Governor Booth Gardner formed the Task Force on Community Protection to consider possible solutions.
While the Task Force deliberated, serial killer Westley Allan Dodd kidnapped, raped, and murdered three young boys in Vancouver, Washington, for which he was executed by hanging. The state legislature, following the recommendation of the Task Force, enacted the Community Protection Act of 1990.
The United States Supreme Court declared the "civil commitment" of former sex offenders was "civil" and non-punitive as the high court's justices presumed as true the state's empirical claim that it had a means of identifying a class of individuals, labeled by the state "sexually violent predators", who were "extremely dangerous" due to their "likelihood of engaging in repeat acts of predatory sexual violence [being] high" (Kansas v. Hendricks (1997) 521 U.S. 346, 351).
In order for the imprisoning of these individuals, without new crimes having been committed, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated that states must be able to make a distinction, between (i) the class of sex offenders who must be released after having completed their prison sentences and (ii) those who could be "civilly" detained, as this later class (unlike the former) is made up of individuals who suffered from "mental abnormalities" which caused them to have "serious difficulty in controlling behavior", thus making them distinguishable "from the dangerous but typical recidivist" that must be released (Kansas v. Crane (2002) 534 U.S. 407, 413).