Sex offenders: Throwing away the key . . .

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg19325924.200?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19325924.200

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Thousands of sexual offenders who have already served their jail terms are kept incarcerated in mental institutions, and some psychiatrists and legal commentators say there are major inadequacies in the assessment methods that put them there. On top of its implications for the civil liberties of the people who would otherwise have been released, the practice is estimated to cost more than a quarter of a billion dollars a year to implement and does little to reduce levels of sexual abuse or rape in society.

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By May 2006, 3646 individuals were being held in the US under these laws, according to the most recent survey, conducted by Adam Deming of the Indiana Sex Offender Management and Monitoring Program in Indianapolis. Of these, 2627 had been committed as dangerous sexual predators, while the other 1019 were waiting for their evaluations to be completed (see Map). Few can expect to be released any time soon. Just 427 of 3493 offenders detained since 1990 had been released by 2004, according to a survey by Roxanne Lieb of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy in Olympia.

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To critics of current policies, the mismatch between public perceptions and crime statistics is at the root of the problem. People are appalled by sex offending, but do not like to acknowledge that it is widespread throughout society. So the public and media demonise convicted offenders, and politicians devise laws such as civil commitment in response. "It's a way of articulating society's condemnation of sexual violence without doing anything fundamental about it," says Janus.

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http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg19325924.200?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19325924.200