Citation

Scott CL, Gerbasi JB. J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law 2003; 31(4): 494-501.

Affiliation

Forensic Psychiatry Division, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA. charles.scott@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Publisher American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

14974805

Abstract

All states and the District of Columbia have passed sex offender registration and community notification laws. While the specific provisions of these statutes vary, all have public safety as a primary goal. The authors discuss two recent cases heard by the United States Supreme Court that challenged the constitutionality of Alaska's and Connecticut's statutes. The laws were challenged as violations of the United States Constitution's prohibition on ex post facto laws and its Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of procedural due process. In both cases, the statutes were upheld. As it has found in challenges to sexually violent predator statutes, the Court emphasized that the registration and community notification schemes are civil and not criminal in nature. The article concludes with a discussion of possible implications for clinicians involved in evaluating or treating sex offenders.

Language: en