Supreme Court rules against extended commitments
The US Supreme Court has made it harder for states to keep sexual offenders locked up after the end of their prison terms.
The ruling was a defeat for states which use commitments to extend violent sex criminals’ time locked away from the public because of concerns about repeat offenders.
Proof will now be required that an offender has a mental illness that causes serious difficulty with self control.
Rapists, child molesters and other sex criminals must from now on be treated the same as other people singled out for involuntary commitment under the court’s 7-2 decision.
