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It was bad enough when states began locking people up because of crimes they might commit in the future. Then in 2006 Congress copied the idea, enacting a law that allows the indefinite civil commitment of federal prisoners who have completed their sentences but are deemed "sexually dangerous."
In upholding that policy on Monday, the Supreme Court not only blessed yet another use of psychiatry to escape the safeguards of our criminal justice system by disguising punishment as treatment. It also encouraged Congress to stack one dubious assertion of power on top of another until the tottering tower is tall enough to surmount the fence erected by the Constitution.
Opponents of preventive detention for convicts who have served their time argue that it violates the right to due process, the guarantee against double jeopardy, and the ban on ex post facto laws. Although a 1997 decision upholding a Kansas civil commitment law suggests the Supreme Court is not receptive to such arguments, this week's ruling did not address them. Instead it dealt with the question of whether the federal government, as opposed to the states, has the authority to commit "sexually dangerous" prisoners who would otherwise be released.
Originally posted by 12GaugePermissionSlip
Just slice their willy off and release them. Solved.
Tell them they have served their sentence but their weenie's still have ten years. They are free to go, but....
[edit on 19-5-2010 by 12GaugePermissionSlip]