Criminal Law Keyed to Kaplan
Kansas v. Hendricks
Facts
Defendant had been convicted of sexually molesting children on several occasions. Upon release from prison, Defendant would continue to offend. In 1984, after a conviction for indecent liberties, Defendant was scheduled to be released after serving ten years of his sentence. Kansas passed the Sexually Violent Predator Act around this same time and filed a petition to commit Defendant under the new Act. Defendant was a diagnosed pedophile and did not believe that he could be successfully treated. Under the Act, a jury found Defendant to be a sexually violent predator and Defendant appealed. The Kansas Supreme Court held the Act unconstitutional. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
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