Civil Commitment, Sex Offender Policy Remain Hot Topics

Protecting the public from violent sex offenders continues to be a divisive conundrum that law makers face. Civil commitment – a practice endorsed by legislation in 17 states – is at the forefront of the debate. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the policy in 1997 as long as treatment is provided at the facility.

Several states are considering civil commitment and other measures to protect the public from sex offenders.

• New York’s Republican Gov. George Pataki made waves in September when he bypassed the Democrat-controlled state Legislature and ordered potentially dangerous sex offenders to be committed to a mental hospital after their sentences were completed.
  
  His decision was overturned in November after 12 civilly committed sex offenders challenged the policy in the state’s Court of Appeals.
  
  “The governor and state officials have a very valid concern about the risks posed to the public by repeat offenders,” Justice Jacqueline Silbermann said. “Nevertheless, that some of the petitioners may involuntarily have been placed in the mental health system by executive fiat is a possibility which this court cannot ignore.”
  
  After the ruling Pataki vowed to appeal and to continue his efforts keep offenders civilly committed.
  
  “We will appeal,” Pataki says. “We are going to continue to do whatever we can to protect the children and protect the people of the state of New York.”
  
  Pataki has pushed for a civil-commitment law since a woman was stabbed to death last June by a homeless man who previously spent 23 years in prison on rape charges. A bill was passed by the state Senate last summer, but it was not passed by the state Assembly.
  
  
  
• Massachusetts is feeling the effects of legislation passed in 2004 that has increased the use of civil commitment for sex offenders that are deemed to be too dangerous to release back into society after they have served their prison sentences.
  
  In early November, more than 150 petitions were pending to commit sex offenders throughout the state at Bridgewater State Hospital, a significant increase over the 77 petitions filed in 2003.
  
  The increase follows an amendment to the state’s civil commitment law that took effect in April 2004 in the wake of the murder of Alexandra Zapp, 30, who was killed in a Burger King restroom by a convicted sex offender. The legislation broadened the criteria for offenders who could be committed after their sentences. It also notifies district attorneys when sex offenders prosecuted in their counties are within six months of release. The prosecutors can then petition to have sex offenders housed at Bridgewater when their sentences are complete.
  
  The Massachusetts Department of Corrections notified prosecutors of about 1,198 sex offenders that were within six months of release from July 2004 to June 2005. Petitions were filed for 108 of the prisoners and 21 were committed. From July 2003 to June 2004, prosecutors were notified about 811 offenders. Petitions were filed to commit 77 of the inmates, but only 13 were approved.
  
  Before the April 2004 law was passed, Massachusetts used civil commitment at Bridgewater under legislation that was narrower in scope. It targeted sex offenders who committed crimes against children, but unlike the amendment, it did not target people convicted of possessing child pornography, propositioning a minor or other similar offenses.
  
  The amendment was backed by the state’s District Attorneys’ Association, which continues to support the legislation. Association member Timothy Cruz, of Plymouth County, started the initial push for the amendment after Zapp’s murder. Before her death he attempted to have the sex offender that murdered her committed to Bridgewater, but the offender did not meet requirements.
  
  “The district attorneys support (the amendment) and work hard for it,” says Geline Williams, executive director of the association.
  
  However, the policy has drawn criticism from judges who say the petitions, which can take as long as two years to resolve, put a burden on the court system.
  
  The state’s public defender agency, the Committee for Public Council Services, has created a new unit with four attorneys who only work on cases involving sex offenders who face civil commitment. The new unit costs the state about $342,000 a year.
  
  
  
• The head of psychiatric services at Rhode Island’s state hospital resigned after Gov. Don Carcieri directed officials to move a repeat sex offender nearing parole from the prison unit of the hospital to another area of the facility.
  
  Dr. Brandon Krupp, who is backed by the Rhode Island Psychiatric Society, says the hospital was not built to hold former inmates and the facility is not an appropriate location for such practices.