Articles
Sex Offense Law Is Unconstitutional
A federal judge ruled that sex offenders cannot be held beyond their prison sentences as currently allowed under a 2006 so-called civil commitment law. The ruling was made in a case involving five inmates set for release from a facility in North Carolina.
Federal prison officials are seeking to hold the inmates, deeming the men “sexually dangerous.” Last year’s civil commitment law allows the federal government to hold offenders who fit this category at mental hospitals.
The Judge’s Ruling
However, U.S. District Court Judge W. Earl Britt said that holding a person indefinitely out of fear he or she will commit a future crime is unconstitutional and added that to do such a thing, the government would have to prove that a person was, in fact, “sexually dangerous.” In his estimation, this would be no easy task for the government.
“There is serious question as to whether the federal government could ever prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an individual is both suffering from a mental illness or abnormality such as pedophilia and unlikely to refrain from sexually violent conduct in the future as a result of that illness,” Britt said in his ruling.
Under the 2006 civil commitment law, the government is not required to meet the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard of evidence, which is stricter than the current “clear and convincing” standard.
The five prisoners were not immediately released, since Britt suspended his decision to allow the government to file a responding motion.
(Source: Associated Press)
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