Civil commitment for unproven condition rejected

Imagine being wrongly convicted of a crime that never occurred, serving a long sentence and then, when you’re about to be released, having the government lock you up for crimes you might commit in the future.

Even worse, imagine that the reason the government wants to keep you locked up is that you have been diagnosed with a mental disorder that many psychologists don’t believe even exists.

That could happen if the federal government has its way with its attempts to civilly detain people it deems a dangerous sex offender because they have “hebephilia,” the sexual attraction to children who have reached puberty.

Fortunately, a federal judge last week rejected the government’s effort to detain a convicted sex offender based on what forensic psychologist Karen Franklin calls this “faux diagnosis.” You can read her post here.