The title of this post is the headline of this interesting new editorial in the Boston Globe. Here is how it begins and ends:
Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone wants state lawmakers to give juries more say in whether some sex offenders should be civilly committed after completing their criminal sentences. It’s a reasonable proposal that could help gain broader community acceptance of verdicts in an explosive area of the law.
In Massachusetts, convicted sex offenders who complete their sentences get to choose whether a judge or jury will determine if they suffer from a mental abnormality that makes them a likely risk to reoffend. Such a finding results in confinement and, equally important, treatment in Bridgewater State Hospital. Leone wants the Legislature to change the law so that either the defendant or the prosecutor can demand a jury trial, as is the case in other civil matters. Leone notes that juries in Middlesex County since 1999 have been almost twice as likely as judges to commit offenders for periods that can last from one day to life. But juries are not acting reflexively, either. In a quarter of the cases decided by jury, the convicted sex offender was found to be no longer sexually dangerous. . . Read More
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