From Hendricks to Crane: the sexually violent predator trilogy and the inchoate jurisprudence of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Leong and Silva have likened the sexually violent predator (SVP) laws to fictional serial slashers in horror movies. Like Jason in Friday the 13th, these cannot be vanquished and reappear in sequel after sequel, meaner and naughtier. The latest episode of the SVP trilogy premiered on January 22, 2002, in the chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court. The analogy with serial slasher movies, although on a lighter note than the issue suggests, is not entirely inappropriate, as the SVP laws share other characteristics of this genre of movies. Both intend to shock, test human rationality to the limit, and have incredible and unbelievable twists and turns, and both get worse with each sequel. In this article I will try to trace the jurisprudence of the U.S. Supreme Court on the sexual predator laws, from Kansas v. Hendricks to Kansas v. Crane.