CAPT Outreach magazine
October/November 1996

Sexually violent predator law ruled constitutional

A state appeals court has ruled that California's nine-month-old sexually violent predator (SVP) law is constitutional.

The law lets the state keep certain state prison inmates from being paroled into the community when they've completed their sentence if it's determined they still pose a serious danger to society. Instead, they go to Atascadero State Hospital.

Confinement of sexual predators has divided courts throughout the nation, and the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up the issue in a Kansas case.

In the California case, the 1st District Court of Appeal court reversed a Superior Court decision that held the SVP law unconstitutional. The attorneys for the 10 inmates had not determined whether they will appeal to the California Supreme Court. However, many other inmates have challenged the law so attorneys believe the issue will eventually end up before the state high court.

The SVP law was challenged on the grounds that it imposes a new punishment on a criminal who has already done his time. However, the appeals court disagreed, saying the additional confinement is not punitive and criminal, but is mental health treatment that is "curative and civil."

The court ruled that the law "imposes a mental health commitment for a present diagnosed mental illness which makes it likely the predator will commit future sexually violent offenses... "Rather than await a re-offense and offer condolences to the family of the victim," the court said, "the people are not only ensuring that predatory, violent sexual offenders be removed from society, but at the same time ensuring that they receive whatever treatment psychiatry can offer for their maladies."

The law applies to those who have been convicted of a sexually violent offense against at least two victims. When this type of inmate is up for parole, the Department of Corrections determines if he fits criteria for SVP evaluation.

Those who do are referred to the Department of Mental Health for evaluation by two psychologists or psychiatrists who will determine risk factors. This is usually done at Atascadero which has two wards with about 50 inmates at this evaluation stage.

If it's determined that the inmate has a mental disorder and is likely to engage in more sexual violence, this finding is sent to the county where the inmate was convicted. This has been done for about 200 inmates so far.

If the county obtains a court order for civil commitment, the inmate can be held for up to two years of treatment, renewable every two years until he is no longer considered dangerous. Officials say only two inmates have reached this point.

Both are back at Atascadero because the state has not yet determined where the SVP treatment facility will eventually be established when more individuals reach this point.