{"id":34679,"date":"2024-04-24T12:53:57","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T17:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=34679"},"modified":"2024-06-06T12:29:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T17:29:42","slug":"new-report-blasts-minnesotas-civil-commitment-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2024\/04\/24\/new-report-blasts-minnesotas-civil-commitment-program\/","title":{"rendered":"New report blasts Minnesota’s civil commitment program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mitchell Hamline’s Sex Offense Litigation & Policy Resource Center on April 24 issued a press release about a new report on Minnesota’s civil commitment system for sex offenders. The release is below:<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nApril 24, 2024
\nMedia Contact: Eric S. Janus
\nDirector
\nSex Offense Litigation & Policy Resource Center
\neric.janus@mitchellhamline.edu
\n(651) 290-6345<\/p>\n

The Failure Of Minnesota\u2019s \u201cOutlier\u201d Sex Offense Civil Commitment <\/strong>
\nScheme & The $100 Million Opportunity To Reduce Sexual Violence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minnesota\u2019s massive investment in so-called \u201ccivil commitment\u201d for people convicted of sex
\noffenses needlessly tramples civil and human rights, fails to meaningfully reduce sexual violence,
\nand deprives more effective sexual violence prevention strategies of critical resources, according
\nto a new report<\/a> from the Sex Offense Litigation & Policy Resource Center SOLPRC at Mitchell
\nHamline School of Law.<\/p>\n

An accompanying letter signals a broad and growing consensus that Minnesota\u2019s experiment with
\nsex offense civil commitment has failed. The letter from more than 50 leading legal scholars and
\npractitioners, mental health providers, policy experts, law enforcement members, criminal justice
\nreform groups, and human rights and civil rights organizations, among others, endorses the report\u2019s
\nfindings and policy recommendations, and asks state lawmakers to sunset the failed Sex Offense
\nCivil Commitment (SOCC) scheme and reinvest its $110 million annual budget into more
\neffective, evidence-based programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis report details what we have long known to be true: Minnesota\u2019s uniquely aggressive civil
\ncommitment program threatens basic constitutional rights while exacerbating the very problem it
\nis intended to solve,\u201d said SOLPRC\u2019s Director Eric Janus. \u201cAnyone who cares about reducing
\nsexual violence in our communities should demand state lawmakers dismantle our failed SOCC
\nscheme and reallocate its massive budget to programs that will prevent violence, support victims,
\nand hold people accountable in fair and equitable ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report\u2019s key findings include:
\n\u2022 At over $100 million per year, Sex Offense Civil Commitment is by far the state\u2019s most
\nexpensive sexual violence prevention program \u2014 despite researchers finding that SOCC
\nhas \u201cno discernible impact\u201d on reducing sex crimes.
\n\u2022 Conversely, the state\u2019s support of primary prevention (interventions designed to prevent
\nsexual harm before it occurs), is less than 2% of SOCC\u2019s funding.
\n\u2022 Minnesota is a national outlier: Most states do not use SOCC at all, yet Minnesota
\ncommits the most people per capita among those that do.
\n\u2022 SOCC in Minnesota is effectively a life sentence without any finding of guilt or the
\ndue process protections of the criminal justice system. As of September 1, 2023, only
\n21 of the 946 people committed to MSOP over its 30-year history have ever been fully
\ndischarged, while at least 94 have died during their confinement. One is thus nearly five
\ntimes more likely to die in the program than to be discharged from it.
\n\u2022 Minnesota\u2019s SOCC scheme has been repeatedly rebuked by federal and state courts,
\nacademic studies, a state government task force, and the Office of the Legislative Auditor,
\nyet policy change has not followed, and the program\u2019s failures persist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been over a decade since the Sex Offender Civil Commitment Advisory Task Force that I
\nchaired found unanimously failures in Minnesota’s civil commitment scheme, including that it was
\ndangerously overbroad, capturing too many people for too long in ways inconsistent with both
\npublic safety and civil rights,\u201d said Eric Magnuson, former Minnesota Chief Justice, and chair
\nof the 2013 bipartisan Task Force. \u201cToday, this report shows in painstaking detail how those and
\nother problems have only worsened, and makes the urgent case for sunsetting Minnesota’s failed
\nexperiment with Sex Offense Civil Commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

In a joint statement, the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA) and Violence
\nFree Minnesota (VFMN) said that \u201cthe funding disparity illustrated in this report is alarming,\u201d
\nand that, \u201cbased on the data in the report, the $100 million that the State spends on MSOP does
\nnot effectively prevent sexual violence nor prioritize the needs of victims\/survivors.\u201d They added
\nthat MSOP\u2019s funding \u201cstands in stark contrast to the less than $3 million spent on primary
\nprevention of sexual violence every year. Meanwhile, our member programs cannot afford to stay
\nopen, despite record numbers of victims\/survivors reaching out for services. The State must
\nadequately invest in primary sexual violence prevention and community-based crime victims\u2019
\nservices. We urgently need a robust and long-term investment in crime victims\u2019 services across
\nour state.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cThis report\u2019s critical findings underscore the necessity of adequately funded rehabilitation and
\nprevention services in the community,\u201d said Ronda Disch, the Executive Director of Alpha
\nEmergence Behavioral Health. \u201cAs community-based treatment providers, we see daily the
\nprofound gaps in funding that hinder our ability to support reentry and offer comprehensive
\nservices effectively. Reallocating the substantial annual budget from civil commitment to
\ncommunity programs could revolutionize our approach, enabling us to implement innovative,
\nevidence-based treatments and support systems for both survivors and individuals seeking
\nreintegration. This change is needed for the health and safety of our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

About SOLPRC:<\/strong>
\nThe Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law
\ncollects and disseminates information about cases on issues of sexual violence policy, and
\nfacilitates communication, sharing, and the development of strategies among the lawyers,
\nadvocates and academics who seek a more sensible and effective public policy on sexual violence
\nprevention.<\/p>\n

About the $100 Million Committee:<\/strong>
\nKey contributions to this report were made by members of the $100 Million Committee, which
\nseeks to reassess the role played by sex offense civil commitment in Minnesota and improve
\nMinnesota\u2019s use of resources to address and reduce sexual violence. The Committee is composed
\nof detainee representatives, survivors of sexual harm, legal and policy professionals, reentry
\nspecialists, families of detained persons, and mental health, human rights, restorative, and racial
\njustice advocates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mitchell Hamline’s Sex Offense Litigation & Policy Resource Center on April 24 issued a press release about a new report on Minnesota’s civil commitment system for sex offenders. The release is below:   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 24, 2024 Media Contact: Eric S. Janus Director Sex Offense Litigation & Policy Resource Center eric.janus@mitchellhamline.edu (651) 290-6345 … <\/p>\n

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