Organizational Positions Against Pre-Crime Preventative Detention

American Psychiatric Association
“We were concerned that psychiatry was being used to preventively detain a class of people for whom confinement rather than treatment was the real goal. This struck many people as a misuse of psychiatry.”
— Paul Appelbaum, M.D.

National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD)
“THE ACT VIOLATES SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS BECAUSE IT SEEKS INDEFINITE INCARCERATION FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE NOT MENTALLY ILL.”
— ACLU Amicus Brief in Kansas v. Hendricks | American Civil Liberties Union

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers NACDL
“Section 4248 fails to satisfy these fundamental requirements of due process in the civil commitment context in at least three respects…”
— Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amici Curiae

Mental Health America Position Statement 55
“… involuntary commitment of people convicted of sex offenses to mental health treatment facilities after they complete their prison terms is an inappropriate response to this problem.”
— Mental Health America

Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE)
“Incarceration shall not be extended through mechanisms such as civil commitment, lifetime parole, or home confinement. No individual shall be subject to residency restrictions.”
— CURE International

National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL )
” … treatment should be in the mental health system rather than a situation of continued incarceration.”
— NARSOL