Home      Login

Abstract: 

Sexually Violent Predators (SVPs) are a despised minority within the general group of sex offenders and there is no political capital awarded to the advocates of the SVP class. Missouri law civilly commits SVP’s while providing a path out or into less restricted facilities, and plaintiffs argue that the statutory pathways out created a liberty interest in them, which is being ignored—SVPs are potentially confined for life and with no current right to treatment designed to hasten release or improve one’s amenities. By necessary implication, then, this ruling also means that the state has no duty to help residents prepare for release or transfers.

Keywords: Van Orden v. Stringer, 937 F.3d 1162 (8th Cir. 2019)

Affiliations:  1: Executive Editor.