That's a good question. In Virginia, people can be put in civil commitment for simply not having a good home plan, or for having mental retardation, or any other host of issues. There is supposed to be a new a new set of assessment (not just the Static-99) that would make the determination more objective, but I haven't heard anything about it recently. Every state has their own version.

So does this then put people in the situation I have read about that includes an in-determinant release date, or never being released?

And then in reference to those you are referring to, does anyone faced with a sex crime worry about civil commitment? I mean so if someone is given an "out-date" is that up to determination as to weather they will be let out? So at the end of someone's sentence can they be retained for not having a good home plan even if they have served their parole time there?

That is so awful. Have you seen any statistics on what percentage of people are affected by this?

As far as I know every state utilizes civil commitment for certain sex offenders.

Depending on the state laws in play, the general criteria is that the person has to adjudicated as having a mental defect or illness that makes him or her more likely than not to reoffend if they are released back into society.

Some states, like Missouri also purport that if the person is an alcoholic they are also more likely than not to reoffend if they are released back into society. Additionally, while some states afford the person the right to have a jury trial, other states require a trial by a judge (called a bench trial).

The easiest way to find out about your state is to do a Google search for civil commitment laws and then put in the name of your state.

The Federal government, 20 states and the District of Columbia have involuntary civil commitment laws for sex offenders.

http://tinyurl.com/7fytdp7

The rules are different for each jurisdiction so as pointed out already, Google is your friend.

Thanks I appreciate the link, and I have tried google quite a lot. I can see which states engage in civil commitment but what I can't seem to get a grasp on is what types of people are civilly committed. My assumption and fear is that this is a policy again designed for the "dangerous" but may be applied to way too many people.

Anyone have any idea what types of crimes can get someone civilly committed?

In general civil commitment is reserved for "sexually violent predators" but the problem is there is no clear cut definition for "sexually violent predator" In some places it takes multiple offenses before someone could be declared sexually violent. In other places any offenses against a child is considered sexually violent and in others still, only the offenses identified as sexually violent by the legislature will make a person subject to civil commitment statutes. Then you also have states like Missouri that use the "more than likely to re-offend" standard which is an entirely subjective standard not based on much of anything other than somebody's opinion.

Since commitment proceedings are considered civil instead of criminal constitutional protections are sadly lacking