The Truth Could Set Them Free
Why did California destroy research into a group of people it says are dangerous enough to be locked up indefinitely? In late 2006, a public defender went before a Napa…
NY: Sex offenders form PAC to try and gain political voice
[timesunion.com - 10/14/19] Voting blocs, where people support candidates on specific issues, have long played an outsized role in New York politics – from labor unions that focus on workplace…
Australia: WA’s sex offender laws ‘as tough as they can be’, says Premier Mark McGowan
[http://brandsauthority.com - 10/7/19] Premier Mark McGowan says WA laws are as tough as they can be in dealing with dangerous sex offenders following the release of a notorious paedophile.________, a…
VA: Our Man in Arlington
A culture-clash of a trial will resume in late September in Arlington Circuit Court. The scantly reported-on civil procedure involves the disturbing topic of predatory sexual behavior and the Virginia…
3 ways to help sex offenders safely reintegrate back into the community
[phys.org - 9/3/19] Few categories of offender invoke as strong a response as sex offenders. There is a public desire to "do something" about sex offenders, which is taken seriously…
CA: Appeals court grants new trial to sexually violent predator because of prosecutorial misconduct
A convicted violent sexual predator will get a new chance for controlled release from a state hospital because of prosecutorial misconduct, a state appellate court ruled this week. Full Article…
FL: A look inside Florida Civil Commitment Center life: Pesci v. Budz
[law.justia.com - 8/21/19] James Pesci is a detainee at the Florida Civil Commitment Center (FCCC), a for-profit facility that houses sex offenders involuntarily committed under Florida’s Involuntary Civil Commitment of…
VA: In Arlington, a judge must decide if a nonviolent sex offender should stay incarcerated after serving his sentence
[washingtonpost.com - 8/23/19] Philip Fornaci is a civil rights lawyer based in Washington. Roger Lancaster is the author of “Sex Panic and the Punitive State.” On Monday, the Circuit Court…
How the Use of Improper Statistics and Unverified Data Corrupts the Judicial Process in Sex Offender Cases
We begin this Article by sharing something about our past legal practice careers, as we believe that is so relevant to the topic that we focus on in this Article.…
Modern-Day Gulags In the Golden State
Back in 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that the practice known as civil commitment was legal. This meant that 20 states—which had passed laws permitting the ongoing incarceration of sex…
MA: State’s Highest Court Orders Release Of Sex Offender Held Since 1970s
Massachusetts' highest court ruled Thursday that a 71-year-old convicted sex offender held for more than 40 years as a sexually dangerous person can be released, after two mental health professionals…
Formerly Incarcerated Sex Offenders Say Civil Commitment Programs Deny Proper Rehabilitation
Responding to several highly-publicized sex crimes and public fears, legislatures across the country have adopted statutes that allow the continued imprisonment of sex offenders after they have completed their sentences.…
WA: On McNeil Island, the only residents are 214 dangerous sex offenders
Civil commitment centers, which exist in less than half of US states, are meant as a community safeguard, but they’re riddled with controversies. Full Article
CA: Man Held 17 Years Without Trial Ordered Free by Appellate Court
Attributing a California man’s 17-year detention awaiting trial for commitment as a sexually violent predator to a “systematic breakdown in the public defender system,” a California appellate court ruled Wednesday…
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,…
IA: Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders Survives Court Challenge
A nearly six-year-old lawsuit challenging Iowa’s program for keeping sex offenders confined after they serve their prison terms has been dismissed by a federal judge in Sioux City. U.S. District…
MN: Protracted Sex Offender Program suit comes to end
A long-running class-action lawsuit over the constitutionally of Minnesota's civil commitment program for sex offenders effectively ended Thursday when a federal judge dismissed the remaining claims but stood by his…
WA: Aging sex offenders on McNeil Island needed 557 medical trips last year
Serving the medical needs of an aging population civilly committed to the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island means more doctor appointments and costs. The off-island trips for care, for…