Minnesota’s mental disorder: civil commitment
Contact Sandy Rozek: communications@narsol.org
Minnesota’s mental disorder: civil commitment
09 August 2024
As well intentioned as state lawmakers are in protecting its citizens from harm, Minnesota fails in providing adequate sexual violence prevention. Rather than invest in proven primary prevention strategies, the state sinks virtually all of its sexual violence prevention capital in a failed civil commitment program.
In April, 2024, the Mitchell Hamline Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law released a report detailing the decades-long failures of the Minnesota Sex Offense Civil Commitment Program.
In response, the Center has issued a letter to the governor and state legislature of Minnesota, a letter signed by more than 50 organizations and individuals, members of the legal, mental health, public policy, law enforcement, human rights, civil rights, and criminal justice reform communities, all concerned about the need to reduce sexual violence. The letter calls for them to eliminate Minnesota’s sex offense civil commitment program and redirect its budget into evidence-based primary prevention programs.
The National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL) fully supports this position and adds its voice to the call for Minnesota’s lawmakers to overturn this failed program.
The report cites research findings showing that the Minnesota Sex Offender Civil Commitment Program (MSOCC) has failed as a viable sexual violence prevention strategy. In spite of its consuming one hundred million ($100, 000, 000) dollars each year, research has found it has ““no discernible impact’ on the incidence of sexual violence” (p. 1).
The report’s findings include decades of deficiency in providing adequate living conditions, medical needs, protection, treatment, or results. It focusses on the prevention of a fraction of recidivist offenses. It fails to address the harm done by sexual violence and does nothing toward the prevention of such violence before it occurs.
The report claims, “Instead of asking ‘How can we best prevent incidences of future harm?’ the state has asked ‘How can we lock up the people we fear the most?’ ”
“I have to agree,” said Paul Shannon, a NARSOL board member who has worked closely with some of the detainees of the Minnesota SOCC. “When a state spends virtually all of its budget allocated for sexual violence prevention on a program shown to be so ineffective in addressing sexual violence prevention, it needs to take a long, hard look at what it is doing. As conscientious as Minnesota’s lawmakers are in fiscal responsibility, this is an area needing their serious attention. It should be disconcerting, also,” Shannon continued, “that more than five times the number of detainees have died while locked up than have been released from the program.”
“By contrast,” he added, “effective evidence-based prevention programs have been identified, programs that address sexual violence before it occurs, before harm occurs. The Minnesota civil commitment program has been plagued with problems and has been shown to be utterly wasteful, ineffective, and harmful from the onset. It is more than time that it is demolished. Today would not be too soon.”
Minnesota? Suddenly that n the news again and right after the VP pick is announced. Great timing. Mitchell Hamline has made such conclusions before have they not? Is it a failure? Not for those pocketing their portion of the 100M it’s not. Politicians certainly derive their credibility from the institution of such regimes. The private builders of government buildings and institutions damn sure make good profits, as does the union labour operating at preferred rate wages. Naturally, each facility must be manned and maintained and that means steady jobs. There are winners in the capitalist sense.
And there are the losers, those incarcerated till death do they part. Minnesotans pretend that wasn’t the true underlying intent in the first place. Popular lies are still lies, while unpopular truths remain reality stating that truth is dangerous.
A multi year chart could be created depicting the rate of use of civil commitment law. State’s used those (WI980) law often immediately after passage. It, sec. 980, is rarely used these days. If it is used I don’t hear much about it.
I think it’s far better and far less expensive to house SVPs in their home towns. This would help insure more are not created and permit the family to support the individual directly. America likes its problems out of sight so its out of mind.
Does NARSOL have to capacity the host a 24\7 hotline [Live!] chat box for trolls & trouble offenders? I suppose I could email communications@narsol with the idea. I’ll volunteer to moderate it some of the time. You guys have a board of D’s right. Maybe you can keep someone from freezing to death this winter. Fortunately the latest hurricane didn’t report offenders banned from shelters. This chat box could lead to some interesting revelations and interactions.
No, Tim; the board doesn’t have the bandwidth to do this. The directors are stretched thin as it is. Most of us have day jobs, and keeping things running in NARSOL, all on a volunteer basis, is all we can manage. It’s a good idea, and if someone who cares enough and has the time would organize it and oversee it, that would be great.