Civil Commitment of Select Recidivistic Sexual Offenders Deemed Likely to Sexually Reoffend

Abstract

In the United States, the civil commitment of recidivist sexual offenders concerns the indeterminate detention for the purpose of public safety (to reduce or prevent future sexual offending) of a small, select subset of sexual offenders (those deemed at particularly higher risk by virtue of certain psychological and/or psychiatric (“mental” or “personality”) characteristics). Almost all such sexual offenders are persons who have completed one or more incarcerations in the criminal justice system, typically with their most recent crime being a sexual offense. Such action necessarily involves the balancing of liberty interests or freedom of those select recidivist sexual offenders with public safety concerns about their potential for persisting dangerousness, specifically the likelihood of future sexual offending. Managing sexual offenders who have committed multiple and/or extreme sexual offenses as the result of some sets of psychological or psychiatric conditions has long been a concern for Western society. Over the past 100 years, in the United States, public policy has shifted among different approaches to dealing with recidivistic sexual offenders perceived as still at elevated risk for sexual offending, sometimes emphasizing enhanced criminal commitment sanctions, sometimes opting to offer a hypothesized therapeutic approach via civil commitment, and sometimes utilizing both increased criminal and civil commitments. The purpose of this chapter is to consider the current civil commitment of recidivistic, the characteristics of sexual offenders, typically referred to as sexually violent offenders or “predators” (CCSVP). In doing so, an overview is provided of the key elements of so-called sexually violent predator (SVP) statutes, the assessment components of evaluations of those sexual offenders selected for consideration under such statutes, characteristics of sexual offender currently the assessment and evaluation practices committed under these statutes and aspects of the civil commitment programs for such individuals.