The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act passed by Congress in 2006 - in an effort to combat sex crimes - established a national sex registry law, created new substantive crimes, expanded federal jurisdiction over existing sex crimes, and increased minimum statutory penalties.
The Act also established a civil commitment procedure for inmates who had completed their prison terms by holding them for indefinite periods of time if the court found by "clear and convincing evidence" that the inmate had committed, or tried to commit, a sex offense and that they remained sexually dangerous. The inmate can petition the court for discharge every 180 days.
Inmates at a federal correctional facility in North Carolina had challenged the law as being in violation of their rights to due process in that the government was not required to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, the standard used in all criminal cases.
The North Carolina inmates argued that civil commitment after having completed their prison terms was tantamount to another prison sentence but without the procedural safeguards of the criminal justice system-their attorneys could petition for discharge every six months, but their commitment could well result in a life sentence despite their having served their sentences.
Some states and Canada have established pre-release and post-release support programs with diligent supervision accompanied by interaction among the court, community and private organizations to find jobs for recently released sex offenders. These measures have reduced rates of recidivism in those communities.
Confining anyone indefinitely without the due process protections afforded criminal defendants by merely reclassifying the confinement as civil would seem to challenge basic assumptions about our system of law and the incarceration of those who have already paid their debt to society. The carefully managed reintegration of offenders into communities rather than the costly and indefinite re-incarceration of inmates may be a better approach.
