Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Sex Offender Issues

Criminal Law

: Sex Offender Issues

MA - Editorial - Rights of sex offenders must be observed

View the article here 02/18/2009 Rights balancing is a tricky business, and sometimes it?s just easier to look the other way. That?s what happened when a Boston court sentenced _____ to civil detention last week as a sexually dangerous person. In this case, the court pulled a trick straight from ?Minority Report? and locked up _____, an ex-felon, to prevent him from committing future offenses. For starters, the civil detention of past criminals comes eerily close to a double jeopardy violation because the state is inferring future crimes from past behavior. In essence, a person goes to jail for a crime, gets released and gets sent to a high-security civil detention center. The only reason it?s not legally double jeopardy is that it?s a civil rather than a criminal sanction, but that distinction is dubious at best...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sex Offender Issues on February 18, 2009 (boomark / email).