Opinion ID: 2629531
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Sexually Violent Predators Act

Text: ¶ 10 The SVPA, chapter 71.09 RCW, authorizes the State to petition for the involuntary commitment of sexually violent predators, defined as any person who has been convicted of or charged with a crime of sexual violence and who suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder which makes the person likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility. Former RCW 71.09.020(16) (2006); former RCW 71.09.030 (2008). A sexually violent offense is defined to include child molestation in the second degree. Former RCW 71.09.020(15). To obtain an order of commitment, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person is a sexually violent predator (SVP). RCW 71.09.060(1). If, on the date that the petition is filed, the person is living in the community (i.e., not incarcerated), the State has the additional burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the person had committed a recent overt act. [5] Id. ¶ 11 We have recently noted that the SVPA was enacted in Title 71 RCW, Mental Illness, to compensate for perceived deficiencies in Washington's mental illness commitment law. The legislature expressly recognized that the prior version of chapter 71.05 RCW was `inadequate to address the risk to reoffend because during confinement [sexual] offenders do not have access to potential victims and therefore they will not engage in an overt act during confinement....' In re Det. of Lewis, 163 Wash.2d 188, 193, 177 P.3d 708 (2008) (quoting RCW 71.09.010). ¶ 12 Although the SVPA excuses the State from proving a recent overt act when a petition is filed against an incarcerated individual, the commitment must still satisfy constitutional due process. In re Det. of Henrickson, 140 Wash.2d 686, 694, 2 P.3d 473 (2000).