Question

A lot of controversy surrounds SVP laws. If you were in charge of the legal system, would you pass this kind of legislation? Why or why not? Would you make any changes to the existing SVP laws?

Answer 1

Some jurisdictions may commit certain types of dangerous sex offenders to state-run detention facilities following the completion of their sentence if that person has a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in sexual offences if not confined in a secure facility which are referred to Sexually Violent PredatorSVP) or Sexually Dangerous Persons law.

SVP Laws have three elements

1. that the person has been convicted of a sexually violent offence.
2. that the person suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder which causes him or her serious difficulty controlling his or her sexually violent behaviour.
3. that this mental abnormality or personality disorder makes the person likely to engage in Predator reacts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility

Civil confinement is the formal legal process By which persons convicted to certain sexual offences generally violent sex offenders may be subject to involuntary commitment upon completion of a prison sentence and is a potential penality of sexually violent Predator loss. as with civil confinement generally civil confinement is a controversial implementation of a State Power. detractors point to the prospect of indefinite detention without due process of law. proponents cite public safety.

State legislatures who have decided to adopt civil confinement statutes have expressed The intent of the loss in their enactments. one example is the state of Washington which explained;” the legislature finds that a small but extremely dangerous groups of sexual violent predators exist for do not have a mental disease or defect that renders them appropriate for the existing involuntary treatment act... which is intended to be a short-term civil commitment system that is primarily designed to provide short-term treatment to individuals with serious mental disorders and then return them to the community. in contrast two persons appropriate for civil commitment... sexually violent predators generally have personality disorders or mental abnormalities which are amenable to existing mental illness treatment modalities and those conditions render them likely to engage in sexually violent behaviour. the legislature for the finds that sex offenders likelihood of engaging in repeat acts of Predator Re sexual violence is high. The existing involuntary commitment act is inadequate to address the risk to reoffend because during confinement these offenders do not have access to potential victims and therefore they will not engage in an overt act during confinement as required by the involuntary treatment act for continued confinement. The legislature for their finds that the prognosis for curing sexually violent offenders is the treatment needs of this population was very long term and the treatment modalities for this population are very different than the traditional treatment modalities for people appropriate for confinement under the involuntary treatment act .”