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| Sex-Offender Release Policy Faces Change in New Jersey |
| By New York Times |
| Published: 02/02/2004 |
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A New Jersey appeals court, noting that sex offenders who are involuntarily committed after completing their sentences can face lifelong detention, has authorized the release of those who can establish that they could adhere to restrictions that would substantially reduce the risk of their committing further offenses. The decision, issued last week, did not order the release of the man who brought the case, a 68-year-old committed after serving two prison terms for molesting young boys. Instead, the court returned the case to the trial court with instructions that if the man proposed specific conditions approved by experts, the judge should take them into account in deciding whether the man would still be "highly likely" to commit another offense, the standard required by law for continued commitment. The conditions, lawyers say, could include regular psychotherapy, electronic monitoring and supervision by family members or social service agencies. None of the more than 300 men who have been deemed dangerous and involuntarily committed since the law took effect in 1999 has ever been recommended for release by the state, said a spokesman for the Department of Human Services. A few have been released by judges who found that the commitment law did not apply to them. The law is one of several enacted to crack down on sex offenders after a 7-year-old girl, Megan Kanka, was raped and murdered in 1994 by a neighbor previously convicted of child molestation. New Jersey's sex offender commitment law is generally considered one of the most strict of the 16 in the nation. |
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