Civil Commitment – It’s not just for sex offenders
Last week the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion affirming the civil commitment of a person for mental health issues.
In the opinion, the Appeals Court found that the trial court did not err in committing the defendant to the Attorney General’s custody until he no longer posed a danger to the community due to his mental disease or defect.
The civil commitment scheme has long been challenged in the context of sexual offenders. It’s interesting to read a case where indefinite confinement is allowed in a different context. It’s also concerning to wonder how many other situations will endorse confinement for something someone “might” do.
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
My question to this is exactly how are they going to determine that this person is no longer a threat. You can’t set a definite time on this and there would have to be constant supervised visits from a specialist to determine when he is no longer a threat. The problem with the SOR is they have determined all are a threat with no specialists involved and it’s determined from the start that the process should not end. Where is the similarity judicially?
This is a combination of a Franz Kafka novel and the story depicted in “Minority Report.” It’s shocking to believe this is happening in our country…rememer “We the People”?
I wonder how far these ignorant sanctimonious power hungry people will go to destroying salvageable lives,innocent lives and lives that are indigent if we all who are just gave up? Hope to never find out.
Brevard County Ordinance 2006-31 is a “might do” ordinance. If everyone is considered for what they ‘might do’ the government had best expand its civil commitment facilities considerably.
Maybe Ron Book should be committed because of his rants against sex offenders. Seriously, I don’t think people should be allowed to be punished for what they MIGHT do in the future. However, something needs to be done about individuals who expressly threaten to kill people over and over again.