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Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders

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Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders
| Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders | | | |

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Sexual violence in the United Stated has become a significant problem over the past decade. Besides being a health problem for the individual, it is a crime that every State punishes in accordance to their laws. In an effort to decrease the incidents of sexual assault, many states and legislators have passed laws geared towards reducing recidivism among convicted sex offenders. As a result, sex offenders living in the United States are subject to different laws, including sex offender registration, community notification, monitoring via a global positioning system (GPS), and loitering and internet restrictions. In addition to these boundaries, sex offenders are subject to civil commitment under the Sexually Violent Predator Laws. Civil commitment among sex offenders is a very controversial issue within the Criminal Justice System, as many argue its ineffectiveness and the violation of the individual’s civil rights. The following paper will discuss civil commitment of sexual offenders, including the costs versus the benefits, issues presented by civil commitment programs, safety it brings to society and strategies that could be implemented for these programs to work better. In addition, this paper begins discussing what civil commitment is, which States currently implement these practices, and relevant cases pertaining to civil commitment programs and Sexually Violent Predator Laws.
Civil commitment of sexual offenders is a program implemented under the Sexually Violent Predator Laws. Civil commitment of sexual offenders holds that upon release from prison a sexual offender, based on the likelihood of they reoffend, are hold upon release, and instead of going back to the community, are sent to hospitals or special institutionalized “homes” where they can continue to receive treatment for their condition. As of April of 2008, there are 20 States that implement civil commitment laws, these States are


References: Bartol, A.M. & Bartol, C.R. (2011). Criminal behavior: A psychological approach, 9th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions.  Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators Kennedy, J. (2010, June 6). California Civil Commitment for Sexual Offenders: Is it working and who benefits? Retrieved May 12, 2012, from Indybay: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/06/06/18650020.php Lieb, R Vess, J. (2008). Sex offender risk assessment: Consideration of human rights in community protection legislation. Retrieved on May 12, 2012, from Legal & Criminological Psychology [Serial Online], 13(2), 245-256.
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