Sexually Dangerous Persons

While much attention is paid to sex offender registries, through which sex offenders in the community must identify themselves, less notice has been taken of the Sexually Dangerous Persons law, which provides for civil commitments of a day to life in the Massachusetts Treatment Center after an offender's criminal sentence is completed. An article in yesterday's Boston Globe about the increase in the number of commitments to the Treatment Center and today's letter to the editor in response have brought the issue to the forefront. Law About Sex Offenders includes links to other sources on the topic, particularly Sexually Dangerous Person Commitments from the Committee for Public Counsel Services. This site includes a great outline of the SDP Commitment procedure.