The Endless Punishment of Civil Commitment

Prosecutors can subject those convicted of sexual offenses—and sometimes, those with no conviction at all—to an indefinite period of civil punishment at the end of their criminal sentence. In January, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Bianco ruled that after spending nearly two decades detained by the state of California without trial, ____ ____ was a free man. Unlike the 536,000 people held pretrial in the criminal justice system in America, ____ , 44, was not being held because he was accused of a crime. Instead, ____ was locked up for 17…

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