The Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders in Light of Foucha v. Louisiana

1993 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
RUDOLPH ALEXANDER
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Mental Health System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
Civil Commitment ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Supreme

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that an individual who has been judged insane and committed to a mental facility and who has regained his sanity but remains dangerous cannot continue to be confined. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Kennedy stated that the majority's decision might have put in doubt the civil commitment of persons other than insanity acquittees. The author of this essay contends that the Court's decision indeed did so and argues that dangerous or predatory sex offenders cannot now be civilly committed to mental institutions. The author argues also that the criminal justice system, rather than the mental health system, is more appropriate for controlling sex offenders.

Underpinnings of the Competence to Stand Trial Standard

2019 ◽  
pp. 77-99
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Hafemeister
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
Competence To Stand Trial ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
Incompetent To Stand Trial ◽  
Why Questions

Chapter 3 begins a discussion of competency to stand trial (CST) determinations. CST is arguably the most significant mental health inquiry associated with criminal justice proceedings. It is a “bedrock” issue in that the United States Supreme Court (USSC) has ruled that a criminal defendant’s constitutional right to a fair trial is violated if the trial proceeds while the defendant is incompetent to stand trial (IST). This chapter examines the initial USSC ruling establishing CST as a constitutional right, its underlying principles and the forces that likely shaped the Court’s determination, and why this right was only recognized relatively recently. It also describes the doctrine’s “public” face as shaped by a few highly-publicized cases, and why questions regarding defendants’ CST are not raised as frequently as they probably should be.

Shame and blame: Secondary stigma among families of convicted sex offenders

2021 ◽  
pp. 174889582110173
Author(s):  
Douglas Evans ◽  
Adam Trahan ◽  
Kaleigh Laird
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Family Members ◽  
The United States ◽  
Formerly Incarcerated ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Sex Offender Registry

The detriment of incarceration experienced by the formerly incarcerated has been increasingly explored in the literature on reentry. A tangential but equally concerning issue that has recently received more research attention is the effect on family members of the incarcerated. The stigma of a criminal conviction is most apparent among families of convicted sex offenders, who experience consequences parallel to those of their convicted relative. Drawing from interviews with 30 individuals with a family member incarcerated for a sex offence in the United States, this study explores manifestations of stigma due to familial association. The findings suggest that families face negative treatment from social networks and criminal justice officials, engage in self-blame and that the media’s control over the narrative exacerbates family members’ experiences. Given the pervasiveness of criminal justice system contact, the rapid growth of the sex offender registry in the United States, and the millions of family members peripherally affected by one or both, justice system reforms are needed to ensure that family members are shielded from the harms of incarceration and registration.

Sex Panic and Denial

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 458-482
Author(s):  
Corey Rayburn Yung
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
American Culture ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Goal ◽  
Residency Restrictions

The American criminal justice system regarding sex is not just logically incoherent, it is also often morally bankrupt because it remains unexamined and poorly understood. This Article contends that there are actually common roots underlying the seemingly oppositional forces of social panic and denial, which explain why the United States has an endemic sexual violence problem. Both panic and denial reinforce the implicit, and sometimes explicit, desire to avoid substantive engagement with socially contentious issues related to sex. The use of residency restrictions and civil commitment fit the modern social goal of putting sex offenders out-of-sight and out-of-mind. Yet, those same desires also explain America’s unwillingness to believe victims of sexual violence and police failure to properly investigate criminal complaints. In this way, sex panic dovetails with sex denial—in both instances, American culture only permits a limited discussion and understanding of sex and sexual violence. The result is that our nation fails to take sex crime complaints seriously while overreacting to the few convictions that emerge from the hostile criminal justice system.

Recent Legal Developments: Criminal Justice Decisions of the United States Supreme Court, 2,020 Term

2021 ◽  
pp. 073401682110595
Author(s):  
Craig Hemmens ◽  
Cortney Dalton ◽  
Christopher Dollar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Fourth Amendment ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
Eighth Amendment

In this paper we review and analyze the criminal justice-related decisions of the 2,020 term of the United States Supreme Court. We also provide a summary of the Court’s voting patterns and opinion authorship. Thirteen of the Court’s 57 decisions touched on criminal justice. There were significant decisions involving the Fourth Amendment, the Eighth Amendment, and federal criminal statutes. Each of these is discussed in turn.

United States Supreme Court and Psychiatry: A Critical Look

1985 ◽  
Vol 13 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 137-164
Author(s):  
Carl P. Malmquist
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Psychiatric Treatment ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
The Right

The entrance of the United States Supreme Court into the field of mental health law in the last decade has been seen by some as heralding a commitment of the Court to mental health issues. A review of key cases reveals a disjointed approach to the issues with an ambivalence and inconsistency in the viewpoint taken toward the role and efficacy of psychiatry. While some cases have emphasized individual rights, such as incompetency issues, and a newly created right to psychiatric assistance at trial for indigents, other cases have refused to give psychiatric treatment centers the right to administer treatment without at least administrative if not judicial supervision. The cases reveal the lack of an overall jurisprudential viewpoint, and perhaps even a trend to return to the level of letting each state go its own way.

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