Academic

Janus & Bolin on Sexually Violent Predator Laws

By Lawrence Solum

Eric S. Janus and Brad C. Bolin (William Mitchell College of Law) have posted An End-Game for Sexually Violent Predator Laws: As-Applied Invalidation (Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Vol. 6, No. 25, 2008) on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

In this essay, the authors sketch the case for "as-applied invalidation" of a sexually violent predator commitment law. In Seling v.Young, the Supreme Court heard and rejected a plea to release a committed individual because of the manner in which the SVP law was applied to him. But Young left open the possibility that an SVP law might be invalidated based upon Evidence, derived from the implementation of the law, of improper purpose, as opposed to "facial" considerations, such as language and pre-implementation findings regarding legislative intent or purpose. We also raise and sketch a related issue: how an "as-applied invalidation" claim might be successfully litigated, notwithstanding the existence of federal jurisdictional obstacles such as the abstention and fact-deference doctrines, and the requirement that federal habeas litigants first exhaust state remedies.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on January 19, 2009 (boomark / email).