The below is OCEAN Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 9, Article 2 (Jan. 15, 2020) published by Russell J. Hatton & Daniel A. Wilson from the gulag in Moose Lake Minnesota.
OCEAN is always seeking alliances with individuals and organizations. We recently received a letter from a civilly committed man in Virginia. He wrote us a 1 4 page letter packed with great information, most of which will be applicable to our efforts. However, there was one message that stood out in his letter: “Focus on your Supporters.” This has become sort of a mantra for us for the last few weeks since we received that letter. I [DAW] sometimes find myself in debates with those that disagree with OCEAN. I don’t mean to argue with anyone. I don’t even care to change other’s perceptions when I defend mine. I just want to be understood.
However, this contention is sometimes reflected in our OCEAN newsletters. But what this man from Virginia helped me realize is that OCEAN is understood, and we need to Focus on our Supporters, instead of those that refuse to consider what we have to say.
We do not have time to hesitate asking for help and support. We MUST network and utilize each other’s resources. Emotional and moral support is great. However, we are civil detainees. ACTION is how we show real care and concern!
We understand the anger, fear and disgust that sexual assaults have caused. But the solution is in the facts not the emotional reactions.
The public has the right to know all sides of this issue so that they can make informed decisions about how to address sexual abuse in Minnesota and nationwide. Transparency is how we will strengthen public safety.
Many want to shut down MSOP. But OCEAN is different. Instead, we seek reform. The difference is significant. Sex offender recidivism hovers around 1 % to 3.5% depending on the study you’re looking at. So although sex offender recidivism is the lowest of all other crimes, it still happens. Therefore, a secure treatment center may still be necessary. However, if MSOP was actually reformed, this would mean that many could potentially be released, opening bed space for others who need it. Currently, that bed space is being wasted on hundreds who do not need it and rejecting thousands that do.
Some of our peers at MSOP do not agree that MSOP should be reformed. They think it should be closed.
However, we think this would be disrespectful to victims of sexual assault and to those that continue to struggle with unhealthy sexual thoughts and behaviors.
We encourage the public to connect the following professionals to the MSOP Reform Facebook page. As the discussion becomes more intense, it is essential that those who are making emotional attacks against MSOP clients are met with THE FACTS.
Hyperlink, email, Facebook message, call or write the following and let them know about the MSOP Reform Facebook page, the Change.org petition called “Stop unconstitutional confinement … ” and www.ajustfuture.org
web page:
□ Eric S. Janus:
Prof. Janus says, in reference to MSOP: “What was touted as a genuine civil commitment program is, in fact, extended punishment.” 1
Eric S. Janus
MITCHELL HAMLINE SCHOOL OF LAW
875 Summit Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55105
(651) 290-6345
Link: eric.janus@mitchellhamline.edu
□ Ilya Shapiro:
Shapiro says: “Sex-offender laws have bored a hole in the nation’s constitutional fabric. As state and federal governments expand that hole-threatening to swallow other rights and others’ rights … 2
Ilya Shapiro
CA TO INSTITUTE
1000 Mass. Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
(202) 842-0200
Link: ishapiro@cato.org
□ Daniel Montaldi PhD:
Dr. Montaldi says: “Minnesota has one of the nation’s most draconian commitment laws.” 3
Link: dmontaldi@sprynet.com
□ Dean R. Cauley Ph.D:
Dr. Cauley says: “Changes must be made to the Minnesota Civil Commitment statute in order to ensure that civil commitment is reserved for those people who have sexually offended who are truly the most dangerous and are at highest risk to reoffend … The MSOP program should be required to have formal accreditation, either by JCAHO, CARF, or another national/international accreditation agency.” 4
Dean R. Cauley Ph.D., MBA
3270 Yukon Drive
Port Charlotte, FL. 33948-6130
(941) 661-8895
Fax: (941) 627-6867
Link: DCauley@Comcast.net
□ Ronald Sullivan:
Sullivan says: “Forty years of research has shown that moral panics can have pro- found and devastating effects on vulnerable populations.” 5
Ronald Sullivan
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 496-2054
Link: rsullivan@law.harvard.edu
□ Grant Duwe, Director of Research and Evaluation for the Minnesota Department of Corrections:
Duwe says: “Sex offenders who are petitioned for commitment … do not have the right to a jury trial in Minnesota … all civilly committed sex offenders are housed in a high-security facility. 6
Link: grant.duwe@state.mn. us.
□ Melissa Hamilton:
Hamilton says: “The collaboration [ of law and science] threatens not only the liberty and privacy interests of those who commit sex-based offenses. The potential exists for a contagion effect whereby interest groups might be encouraged to qualify all manner of criminal behaviors as distinct mental disorders. Accordingly, if the interaction between law and psychiatry continues in this manner, all criminals may be deemed to have mental disorders. This outcome makes no logical sense, undermines the core tenets of the law, infringes upon fundamental rights, and methodically destroys trust in the science of psychiatry.” 7
Link: cpittson@law.pace.edu.
□ Thomas K. Zander, Psy.D:
Dr. Zander says: “First and foremost, sex psychopath and sex offender statutes can best be described as approaches that have failed. The discrepancy between the promises in sex statutes and performance have rarely been resolved … The mere assumption that such a heterogeneous legal classification could define treatability and make people amenable to treatment is not only fallacious, it is startling.” 8
Link: DrTomZander@aol.com.
More links to connect to Facebook “MSOP Reform,” Change.mg and ajustfuture.org
□ Patrick A. Langan: U.S. Dep’t of Justice. “Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994”:
https:// www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsorp94 .pdf.
□ Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers & Sex Offender Civil Commitment Programs Network.
“Civil Commitment: If It Is Used, It Should Be Only One Element of a Comprehensive Approach for the Management of Individuals Who Have Sexually Abused” (2015):
http://www.atsa.com/ sites/ default/files/%5BCi vil %2 0Commi tment%5D%2 0 In %20Context. pdf.
□ Communities of Support and Accountability (CoSA): Criminal Justice Ministries with EMO, Ecumenical Ministries: http://www.emoregon.org/ cosa. php
□ Adam Liptak. “Did the Supreme Court Base a Ruling on a Myth?,” New York Times, Mar. 6, 2017:
https://www.nytimes.com/201 7 /03/06/us/politics/supreme-court-repeat-sex-offenders.html
□ Rachel Aviv. “The Science of Sex Abuse,” New Yorker, Jan. 14, 2013: http://bit.ly/2rRWFF3
□ Bill Mears. “Can Sex Offenders be Held After Serving Criminal Sentences?” CNN, Jan. 12, 2010: http://cnn.it/2rR WppE
□ The Editorial Board. “Sex Offenders Locked up on a Hunch” New York Times, August 15, 2015:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/sex-offenders-locked-up-on-ahunch.
html ?mcubz=0&r= 1.
FOOTNOTES
1 Eric S. Janus, Counsel of Record, Professor of Law, “Brief of Law Professors as Amici Curiae in Support of Petition for Writ of Certiorari,” On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court Of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, June 22, 2017, p.2
2Ilya Shapir, Counsel of Record, “Brief for the Cato Institute and Reason Foundation as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners,” On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, June 22, 2017, p. 3
3Daniel Montaldi, PhD, WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW, “A Study of the Efficacy of the Sexually Violent Predator Act in Florida,”
4Dean R. Cauley Ph.D., MBA, “EXPERT REPORT OF DEAN R. CAULEY, PH.D., MBA,” Court File No. 11- cv-03659 (DWF/JJK), December 5, 2014, p. 3
5Ronald Sullivan, Counsel of Record, Fair Punishment Project, “Amicus Brief for Criminology Scholars and the Fair Punishment Project,” On Writ of Certiorari of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, June 22, 2017, p. 3
6Duwe, G., “To What Extent does Civil Commitment Reduce Sexual Recidivism? Estimating the Selective Incapacitation Effects in Minnesota,” Journal of Criminal Justice (2013 ),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2013.06.009, pg. 3
7Melissa Hamilton, PACE UNIVERSITY, Adjudicating Sex Crimes as Mental Disease, 33 Pace L. Rev. 536 (2013 ), Available at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/plr/vol33/iss2/2 Electronic copy available at:
http://ssm.com/abstract= l 989503, Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/plr, p. 598, 599
8Thomas K. Zander, Psy.D., J.D., MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL, “Civil Commitment Without Psychosis: The Law’s Reliance on the Weakest Links in Psychodiagnosis” Journal of Sexual Offender Civil Commitment: Science and the Law, 1, 17-82 (2005). Dr. Zander is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School. Correspondence regarding this article may be e-mailed to him at DrTomZander@aol.com. p.21
