Week 5

States Detain sex offenders after prison

        In 1999, The Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators Act was enacted in the State of      Virginia, but did not receive funding until 2003 (Monahan, 2006). The goal of the law was to allow the
Office of the Attorney General to imitate civil proceedings against certain offenders who were; convicted of a sexually violent offense, charged with a sexually violent offense and found to be incompetent to stand trial (Monahan, 2006). According to the law, sex offenders who are deemed high risk to reoffend can be civilly committed in a secure inpatient mental health facility until they have received the proper treatment needed to return to society and not reoffend sexually (Monahan, 2006).

        The civil commitment process begins when the Department of Corrections identifies inmates who are currently serving prison sentences for the following offenses: rape, object sexual penetration, forcible sodomy, abduction of any child under 16 years of age for the purpose of concubinage or prostitution, abduction of any person with the intent to defile (Monahan, 2006). When the inmates are within ten months of release, an actuarial instrument measures the inmate’s risk level. If the prisoner is at a high risk to re-offend, his name and records are forwarded for review by the Commitment Review Committee (CRC) (Monahan, 2006). The courts may also refer offender to the CRC (Monahan, 2006).

        The Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators Act gives State of Virginia with additional resources to protect its citizens from high-risk sexual offenders and also provides the sex offender with treatment that reduces the risk of re-offending (Monahan, 2006). Some sex offenders, such as child molesters re-offend many years after their initial sex offense; deviant sexual behavior may be a life-long problem (Monahan, 2006). Correctly applied I feel that this is a valid law to have on the books. I will admit not all sex offenders re-offend. The majority of sex offenders that do re-offend usually have a prior criminal record and child molestation offences (Monahan, 2006).

References

Monahan, J. (2006). A jurisprudence of risk assessment: Forecasting harm among prisoners, predators, and patients. Virginia Law Review, 391-435.