NCJ Number
216421
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 50 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2006 Pages: 609-629
Date Published
December 2006
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study examined the factors that affected the civil commitment recommendations of 450 sexual offenders in Florida who were evaluated for civil commitment as sexually violent predators (SVP).
Abstract
Several factors emerged as predictors of recommendations for civil commitment under Florida’s Jimmy Ryce Act, which allows the State to involuntarily confine violent sex offenders to treatment facilities following their release from prison: (1) diagnoses of pedophilia and paraphilia not otherwise specified; (2) the presence of psychopathy; (3) actuarial risk assessment scores; (4) younger victim age; and (5) nonminority race. The findings also revealed that the sex offenders recommended for civil commitment consistently met the criteria for civil commitment set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kansas v. Hendricks; namely, that the offenders suffered from mental abnormalities that predisposed them to sexual violence based on empirically derived risk assessments. The findings suggest that Florida is using evidence-based risk assessment practices in its sex offender civil commitment selection process. The study involved reviewing the files of the 450 SVPs considered for civil commitment in Florida between July 2000 and June 2001. The files contained interviews with the SVPs by SVP evaluators and were coded by researchers who were assessing the files for evidence of variables that influenced the evaluators’ recommendations. The researchers also assessed the degree to which Florida’s assessment process was research driven. The analysis used logistic regression models to examine the effects of the following variables on civil commitment recommendations: (1) various diagnoses; (2) actuarial risk assessment instruments; (3) empirical factors, such as weapon use, prior treatment failure, and variety of sex crimes; (4) dynamic factors, such as poor social supports, sexually deviant attitudes, and victim access upon release; (5) consensus-based factors, such as history of murder, age of victim, and number of victims; (6) evaluator factors; and (7) offender demographic factors. Follow-up research should attempt to replicate these findings in other States to provide more insight into the larger process of civil commitment selection. Tables, references