Opinion ID: 1518571
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Application to criminal behavior

Text: To the extent that the determination of sexually violent predator status is made based upon, not criminal activity, but a finding of a mental abnormality or personality disorder, it is not applied to conduct at all, but to an individual's status as suffering from a serious psychological defect. While it must be acknowledged that the procedures whereby an individual is potentially subjected to registration, notification, and counseling are triggered only after conviction of a predicate offense, see 42 Pa.C.S. § 9795.4, the United States Supreme Court has concluded that this is of little significance in evaluating whether or not Megan's Law legislation is punitive; the Court explained in Smith that, where such legislation is concerned, application to past criminal conduct is a necessary beginning point, for recidivism is the statutory concern. Smith, ___ U.S. at ___, 123 S.Ct. at 1154; cf. State v. Ulesky, 54 N.J. 26, 252 A.2d 720, 722 (1969) ( per curiam ) (suggesting that municipal registration of criminals is prophylactic, not punitive). Thus, the Supreme Court disagreed with the Ninth Circuit's conclusion that the fact that Alaska's statute applies only to behavior that is already criminal [supports] the conclusion that its effect is punitive. Otte, 259 F.3d at 991. This factor, then, does not support a finding that Megan's Law II imposes criminal punishment.