Minnesota sex offender commitment program ruled unconstitutional

[Little Tich]

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday ruled Minnesota's sex offender treatment program unconstitutional and ordered a hearing into the system that has not unconditionally released anyone in 20 years and holds more than 700 people in treatment facilities.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank did not order anyone immediately released, but urged the governor, state legislative leaders and others to attend a pre-hearing conference in August to discuss changes to protect public safety and ensure people's rights.

"The overwhelming evidence at trial established that Minnesota's civil commitment scheme is a punitive system that segregates and indefinitely detains a class of potentially dangerous individuals without the safe guards of the criminal justice system," Frank wrote in his decision.

Under civil commitments, offenders who have served their prison terms are held in state facilities until completing their treatment.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/minnesota-sex-offender-commitment-program-ruled-unconstitutional-220309613.html

[cstanleytech]

1. So will this end up costing the state money as well for violating their constitutional rights?

Cause if the answer is yes then that might very well sting since your looking at potentially 700+ people who had their constitutional rights violated.

[yeoman6987]

2. Kinda crazy but if the state is negligent then it will have to pay up

Of all states Minnesota can afford it. So it won't hurt anyone in the state.

[davidpdx]

3. Quite a few states have similar laws

Twenty states (Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia have enacted laws permitting the civil commitment of sexual offenders

I think Oregon used to have it if I remember correctly as well, but the law must have been changed.