Assessing the Legal Standard for Predictions of Dangerousness in Sex Offender Commitment Proceedings
نویسندگان
چکیده
Eric S. Janus served as co-counsel for Linehan in In re Linehan (Linehan I), 518 N.W.2d 609 (Minn. 1994), petition for reh’g denied (Minn. Aug. 15, 1994), and In re Linehan (Linehan II), 544 N.W.2d 308, 313 (Minn. Ct. App. 1996), aff’d, 557 N.W.2d 171 (Minn. 1996). Linehan I concerned a petition brought under Minnesota’s Psychopathic Personality Commitment Act, MINN. STAT. §§ 526.09 and 526.10 (1992), amended and recodified at MINN. STAT. ANN. § 253B.02, subd. 18a (West Supp. 1996). Linehan II is a proceeding brought under Minnesota’s Sexually Dangerous Persons Commitment Act, MINN. STAT. ANN. § 253B.02, subds. 7a, 18b (West Supp. 1996). We thank Leslie J. Yonce and research assistant Brad Bolin. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Eric S. Janus, William Mitchell College of Law, 875 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota 55105. ASSESSING THE LEGAL STANDARD FOR PREDICTIONS OF DANGEROUSNESS IN SEX OFFENDER COMMITMENT PROCEEDINGS
منابع مشابه
Decision-making about volitional impairment in sexually violent predators.
The Kansas v. Hendricks (1997) decision, in which the Supreme Court authorized post-sentence civil commitment for certain sex offenders, appeared to be constitutionally legitimized by limiting the class of offenders eligible for this special form of civil commitment to those who are "unable to control" their dangerousness. Nowhere in the available record, however, did the Court elucidate what t...
متن کاملThe right to community treatment for mentally disordered sex offenders.
In 1990, Earl Shriner, a released pedophile, raped a seven-yearold boy, severed the boy’s penis, and left him to die. The public outrage that followed this horrific incident in Tacoma, Washington led to the passage of that state’s Sexually Violent Predator (“SVP”) law. The law provides for post-incarceration psychiatric commitment of sex offenders who suffer from a “mental abnormality or person...
متن کاملViolent fantasy, dangerousness, and the duty to warn and protect.
An evaluation of homicidal ideation is a routine component of a mental status examination and may be evaluated in more depth in forensic evaluations as a dangerousness risk assessment. The evaluation of dangerousness often includes asking about violent fantasies that may have physical or sexual content. The authors examine the circumstances in which the revelation of violent fantasies to a ment...
متن کاملDiagnosing and litigating hebephilia in sexually violent predator civil commitment proceedings.
In recent years, state and federal legislative initiatives have heavily emphasized punitive laws to combat sexual crime. These statutes include indefinite civil commitment, which is the ultimate infringement on sexual offenders' civil liberties. Many of these committed offenders have repeatedly offended against prepubescent children (pedophiles), and many have committed nonconsensual sexual off...
متن کاملBeyond prediction to explanation in risk assessment research. A comparison of two explanatory theories of criminality and recidivism.
Predictions of dangerousness, violence, and recidivism continue to play an ever-growing role in the legal system. These psycho-legal assessments determine a myriad of legal outcomes including, but not limited to, probation status (i.e., prediction of recidivism), civil commitment (i.e., prediction of danger to self or others), psychotherapist liability under a Tarasoff duty (i.e., prediction of...
متن کامل