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Thursday, May 20, 2010
Courts - "Is a lifetime in jail the best way to deal with sex offenders?"
Newsweek columnist Mary Carmichael wrote yesterday on Monday's SCOTUS decision in US v. Comstock (ILB entry here) in an article that begins:
On Monday, the Supreme Court released two important decisions about the prison system: one ruling that juveniles can't receive life sentences for crimes other than murder and another that the federal government is allowed to hold sex offenders in custody indefinitely, even after they have completed their sentences. The first ruling was hailed as a victory for civil rights, but the second barely occasioned any outcry on behalf of the inmates it affects. The reason is obvious: who wants to be on the record defending sexual offenders?The ruling "is in line with what a lot of communities have been doing already," says Tony Grubesic, an associate professor of geography at Indiana University, Bloomington, who has studied how prison systems deal with sex offenders. Many state governments already detain offenders after their sentences in "civil commitment" programs if the inmates are judged to be at risk of molesting or raping again. Yesterday's decision simply extends that power to the feds. "The trend is toward increasingly punitive measures," Grubesic says. "I'm not surprised by the court's decision."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 20, 2010 08:01 AM
Posted to Courts in general