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To Catch A Predator, and then Commit Him for Life
By John Matthew Fabian
Editor’s Note: Part Two of this article will outline the science of sex offender risk assessment as applied to federal sex offenders in Adam Walsh Act civil commitment hearing proceedings.
The Adam Walsh Act (AWA) became law on July 27, 2006, and is the most complex, progressive, and punitive sex offender law ever enacted, responding to a public and political outcry of concern over sex offenders and their potential threat to society. The law has its conception grounded in public attention on several noteworthy sexual homicides towards children, and in fact recognizes by name a handful of these children including Jacob Wetterling, Jessica Lunsford, Megan Kanka, Jimmy Ryce, and Adam Walsh.
The following discourse on AWA focuses on one specific area of the AWA, the civil commitment of federal sex offenders pursuant to Title III Section 302.1 Part One of this article discusses the law’s inclusion of the civil commitment of federal sex offenders after their prison terms are completed, releva
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