Kansas v. Hendricks: Addressing Due Process Challenges to Civil
others." (18) In Kansas v. Hendricks, the State sought to civilly
The Supreme Court dealt with the issue of treatment in even greater depth in
Kansas v. Hendricks (72) Leroy Hendricks was a habitual child molester and the first target (73) of Kansas's newly enacted Sexually Violent Predator Act.
Current legal definitions of what constitutes a sexually violent predator can be viewed in light of three recent Supreme Court decisions: (1) in
Kansas v. Hendricks (1997), (2) in Seling v.
In 1997, the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Act in
Kansas v. Hendricks. (22) However, just five years later, the Court last Term in Kansas v.
In the absence of viable alternatives, the group approached Michigan lawmakers, asking for new legislation consistent with the recently issued
Kansas v. Hendricks ruling.
(2) In 1997, the Supreme Court upheld the Kansas civil confinement statute in
Kansas v. Hendricks. (3) The Court decided that a state could civilly confine a previously incarcerated sexually violent predator, due to the likelihood that the offender could engage in future criminal acts.
In the first go-round,
Kansas v. Hendricks, Justice Clarence Thomas held in his majority opinion that there were no constitutional defects in the Kansas SVP statute, which is typical of laws in other states that have codified this new use of civil commitment.
In
Kansas v. Hendricks, the Court held that because "the Act does not establish criminal proceedings and ...
KANSAS V. HENDRICKS: THE SUBSTANTIVE LIMITS OF THE PREVENTIVE STATE
Supreme Court ruled in
Kansas v. Hendricks that the state may brand sex offenders as "violent sexual predators" and commit them indefinitely after they have served their full prison sentences, based on speculation about what they might do in the future.
The Supreme Court erred in
Kansas v. Hendricks by allowing the civil commitment of Leroy Hendricks under the Kansas Sexually Violent Predator Act.