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Sunday, January 16, 2011
Law - Cost of indefinite detention of sex offenders shocks Virginia lawmakers
The ILB has had a number of entries on the high cost of civil commitment of sex offenders. The most useful may be this entry from June 23, 2010.
Bill Sizemore of The Virginian-Pilot had this story Jan. 15, 2011. Some quotes:
Lawmakers expressed shock Friday over the exponentially rising cost of a program to keep some sex offenders locked up after they complete their criminal sentences.The annual operating cost of Virginia's Sexually Violent Predator Program is projected to hit $32 million next year - more than a tenfold increase in eight years.
The General Assembly created the program in 1998 to keep sex offenders deemed likely to re-offend off the streets after they finish their criminal sentences. The process is known as civil commitment. * * *
The panel grilled Olivia Garland, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, about how and why the program has grown so dramatically.
Initially the pool of offenders was limited to four crimes: rape, forcible sodomy, object sexual penetration and aggravated sexual battery. In 2006, however, the Assembly expanded the list of crimes to 28.
In addition, the state switched to a different screening test, which lowered the threshold for commitment.
As a result, Garland said, the number of offenders coming into the program, initially about one a month, now averages six to eight a month.
There are 252 offenders in the program. So far, 11 have been released.
The average annual operating cost is $91,000 per resident. That's low compared to the cost in some of the other 19 states with similar programs, Garland said. In New York, for instance, the per-resident cost is $175,000.
A big factor in the cost is the high staffing ratio required for such a program, she said: roughly two staffers for every resident.
Garland cited several reasons why Virginia's program is growing faster than those in many other states.
Unlike most states, Virginia commits mentally ill offenders and those who have been judged "unrestorably incompetent to stand trial."
Also, most states require that an offender show a history or pattern of sexually dangerous behavior before becoming eligible for commitment. In Virginia, it takes only one offense.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 16, 2011 02:28 PM
Posted to General Law Related