Employing the Mental Health System to Control Sex Offenders After Penal Incarceration*

In the 1930s, several states provided civil commitment in mental institutions for certain sex offenders. Civil commitment of these sex offenders abated after most states repealed their statutes in the 1960s. In the 1980s, however, these statutes returned, as outraged citizens deplored the offenses of repeated sex offenders. The author of this essay examines civil commitment statutes for sex offenders in Washington and Minnesota, two of the leading states in this area, as well as recent rulings from each state's Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of these statutes. Particularly, the author focuses on the psychiatric or mental health discussions by the justices in the majority in both state rulings. Furthermore, the author criticizes the legislatively defined mental abnormality statutes that sanction these commitments, proposes use of the ordinary civil commitment statutes for individuals who are seriously mentally ill, and concludes that sex offenders who do not meet the criteria for traditional civil commitment should be handled by the criminal justice system.