Opinion ID: 2334086
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Missouri's sexually violent predator law

Text: The Missouri legislature created a mechanism to civilly commit sexually violent predators; i.e., any person who suffers from a mental abnormality [that] makes the person more likely than not to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility and who ... [h]as pled guilty ... of a sexually violent offense. Section 632.480(5)(a). For purposes of this law, attempted forcible rape is a sexually violent offense; second-degree statutory sodomy is not. Section 632.480(4). If the department of corrections or department of mental health believes a person in its custody is a sexually violent predator, then the agency may forward written notice to the attorney general and a multidisciplinary team to determine if the subject is a sexually violent predator. Section 632.483. The notice is provided within 360 days prior to the anticipated release from a correctional center of the department of corrections of a person who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense. Section 632.483.1(1). The multidisciplinary team is to determine if the person meets the definition of a sexually violent predator. Section 632.483.4. The team's assessment is provided to the attorney general and to the prosecutors' review committee. Id. The five-person prosecutors' review committee is appointed by the prosecutors coordinators training council. It also determines if the person meets the definition of a sexually violent predator. Section 632.483.5. If the prosecutors' review committee determines by majority vote that the person meets the definition of a sexually violent predator, the attorney general may file a petition in the probate division of the circuit court in which the person was convicted alleging that the person is a sexually violent predator. Section 632.486. [4]