NCJ Number
181921
Journal
Psychology, Public Policy, and Law Volume: 4 Issue: 1/2 Dated: March/June 1998 Pages: 468-504
Date Published
March 1998
Length
37 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the 20th-century history of special legislation regarding the civil commitment of sex offenders and concludes that these laws will be expensive to implement, will result in at least three generations of litigation, and may not be a wise expenditure of scarce public resources.
Abstract
The history of special sex offender legislation reflects an ongoing debate over whether sex offenders should be handled mainly through the criminal justice system or through the mental health system. The criminal justice system was primarily responsible for sex offenders until the late 1930’s. At that time some States concluded that the mental health system should deal with certain sex offenders and enacted sexual psychopath laws. Subsequently, most experts and policymakers concluded that involuntary, indeterminate treatment was ineffective in changing their criminal behavior. Most law reform took this new knowledge into account. Recent laws called sexual predator laws authorize the government to confine the convicted offender in a secure facility beyond the expiration of the sentence if the person is believed to be at risk of offending. These laws do not require that the individual have a medically recognized serious mental disorder. The experience of Washington and California indicates that implementing these laws is expensive. They have other disadvantages as well. These laws may have a smaller future role in safeguarding the public, because repeat violent sex offenders will receive long prison sentences. However, they will remain on the books, cost a great deal of money, and probably be counterproductive. Tables, footnotes, and appended figure