Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center

SVP

Beyond Strict Scrutiny: Forbidden Purpose and the “Civil Commitment” Power

Posted: June 29, 2018
Sex offender civil commitment (SOCC) is a massive deprivation of liberty as severe as penal incarceration. Because it eschews most of the "great safeguards" constraining the criminal power, SOCC demands careful constitutional scrutiny. Although the Supreme Court has clearly applied heightened scrutiny in judging civil commitment schemes, it has never actually specified where on the scrutiny spectrum its analysis falls. This article argues that standard three-tier scrutiny analysis is not the most coherent way to understand the Supreme Court’s civil commitment jurisprudence. Rather than a harm-balancing judgment typical of three-tier scrutiny, the Court’s civil commitment cases are best understood as forbidden purpose cases, a construct that is familiar in many areas of the Court’s constitutional analysis...

Beyond Strict Scrutiny: Forbidden Purpose and the “Civil Commitment” Power

Assessing the Real Risk of Sexually Violent Predators: Doctor Padilla’s Dangerous Data [Law Review]

Posted: June 29, 2018
This Article uses internal memoranda and emails to describe the efforts of the California Department of Mental Health to suppress a serious and well-designed study that showed just 6.5% of untreated sexually violent predators were arrested for a new sex crime within 4.8 years of release from a locked mental facility. The Article begins by historically situating sexually violent predator laws and then explains the constitutionally critical role that prospective sexual dangerousness plays in justifying these laws. The Article next explains how the U.S. Supreme Court and the highest state courts have allowed these laws to exist without requir- ing any proof of actual danger. It then describes the California study and recon- ciles its findings with those of a well-known Washington study by explaining the preventive effects of increasing age. Finally, the Article explains how these results undermine the justification for indeterminate lifetime commitment of sex offenders.

Assessing the Real Risk of Sexually Violent Predators: Doctor Padilla’s Dangerous Data [Law Review]

Topics

1st Cir. 2nd Cir. 3rd Cir. 4th Cir. 5th Amendment 5th Cir. 6th Amendment 6th Cir. 7th Cir. 8th Cir. 9th Cir. 10th Amendment 10th Cir. 11th Cir. 14th Amendment Actual Innocence Administrative Procedures Act AEDPA Alabama Alaska Antisocial Personality Disorder Apprendi / Alleyne As-Applied Assistance of Counsel Association AWA AWA Compliance Az Bill of Attainder Burden of Proof Cal. California Church banishment Civil Commitment Collateral Estoppel Colo. Compelled Speech Conditions of Release D.C. D.C. Cir. D. Colo. D. Neb. Daubert Deregistration Double Jeopardy Due Process E.D. Missouri E.D. Wis. EDKY Eighth Amendment Equal Protection Evidentiary Standards Ex Post Facto Extraterritorial Registration Failure to Register Familial Relationships Federal SORNA First Amendment Florida Fourteenth Amendment Fourth Amendment Full Faith and Credit Ga. GPS Habeas Corpus Halloween Homelessness Housing HUD Idaho Ill. Illinois Immigration Ind. Indiana Ineffective Assistance Internet Identifiers Internet Restrictions Iowa Juvenile Registration Kansas Ky. La. Law Review Louisiana M.D. Ala. Maine Mass. Md. Mental disorder Minnesota Missouri Mo. Montana N.C. N.D. N.H. N.J. N.Y. Neb. Necessary and Proper New Mexico New York non Nondelegation Ohio Okla. Out-of-state Offense Overbreadth PA Pa. Super. Ct. Paraphilia Diagnosis Pardon Parole Personality Disorder Plea Agreement Plethysmograph Polygraphs Preemption Presence Restrictions Procedural Default Procedural Due Process Punishment Qualified Immunity Recidivism Reclassification Residency Restrictions Residential Banishment Res Judicata Retroactive Application (Non-EPF) Revocation of Supervision Right to Jury Trial Right to Parent Right to Travel Ripeness Risk S.C. S.D. School Property Second / Subsequent Offense Secondary Materials Sexual Predator designation Sign Posting Sixth Amendment Social Media SORNA Special Needs Speedy Trial Standing Substantive Due Process Supervised Release SVP Takings Clause Tenn. Texas Tiering / Classification Tolling Travel Travel Restrictions Treatment Programs U.S. US Utah Va. Virginia Void-for-Vagueness Voting Rights Vt. Washington Wisconsin