Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 2015
Abstract
In its 1997 opinion, Kansas v. Hendricks, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law that reflected a new model of civil commitment. The targets of this new commitment law were dubbed “Sexually Violent Predators” (SVPs), and the Court upheld indefinite detention of these individuals on the assumption that there is a psychiatrically distinct class of individuals who, unlike typical recidivists, have a mental condition that impairs their ability to refrain from violent sexual behavior. And, more specifically, the Court assumed that the justice system could reliably identify the true “predators,” those for whom this unusual and extraordinary deprivation of liberty is appropriate and legitimate, with the aid of testimony from mental health professionals.
Publication Title
Oklahoma Law Review
Volume
67
Article Number
1066
First Page
619
Suggested Bluebook Citation
Deirdre M. Smith,
Dangerous Diagnoses, Risky Assumptions, and the Failed Experiment of "Sexually Violent Predator" Commitment,
67
OKLA. L. Rev.
619
(2015).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/faculty-publications/67
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