NCJ Number
170793
Journal
New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement Volume: 23 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1997) Pages: 427-462
Date Published
1997
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the issues that the US Supreme Court faces in Hendricks v. Kansas, and reflects on the implications of the possible outcomes of that case for the 200 persons committed to the Treatment Center at Bridgewater, MA, as sexually dangerous persons.
Abstract
The article discusses the foundation of the opinion by the Supreme Court of Kansas in Hendricks: Foucha v. Louisiana, in which the US Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of detaining persons who have been acquitted of a crime by reason of insanity and who are no longer mentally ill, but who may pose a danger to the community. Further, the article elucidates the opinion in Hendricks, that it is unconstitutional to civilly commit and detain a person convicted of a crime, and dangerous but not mentally ill, and the likely grounds upon which the statute will be upheld or stricken by the US Supreme Court. The article also discusses the rights afforded to persons committed as sexually dangerous in Massachusetts and whether sexually dangerous persons may continue to be detained there if the US Supreme Court affirms the decision that the Kansas statute is unconstitutional; and the constitutionality of a sentencing scheme in which the danger of harm to the public would justify an indeterminate sentence of up to life imprisonment. Notes