Kansas v. Hendricks case brief

Kansas v. Hendricks case brief summary
521 U.S. 346 (1997)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Petitioner State appealed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Kansas, invalidating the Sexually Violent Predator Act, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-29a01 et seq. (1994), as not satisfying substantive due process requirements, in its review of cross-petitioner inmate's appeal of his civil commitment under the Act. The inmate appealed, reasserting federal double jeopardy and ex post facto claims.

CASE FACTS
Inmate was committed as a sexually violent predator after the trial court found that pedophilia was a mental abnormality as defined by Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-29a02(b) (1994).

DISCUSSION

• The court held that the Act satisfied due process requirements because it unambiguously required a finding of dangerousness either to one's self or to others as a prerequisite to involuntary confinement. 
• Commitment proceedings were initiated only when a person had been convicted of or charged with a sexually violent offense and suffered from a mental abnormality or personality disorder that made the person likely to engage in the predatory acts of sexual violence. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-29a02(a) (1994). 
• As the Act did not establish criminal proceedings and because the involuntary confinement pursuant to the Act was not punitive, inmate's involuntary detention did not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause, even though the confinement followed a prison term. 
• Because the Act did not impose punishment, did not criminalize conduct legal before its enactment, or deprive inmate of any defense that was available to him at the time of his crimes, the Act was not impermissible under the Ex Post Facto Clause.

CONCLUSION

The court reversed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Kansas.

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