Court Opinion

ID: 9708931
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:35:51.823277+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:44.791553
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE TRAPP, dissenting: The rationale and disposition of the majority turns the Sexually Dangerous Persons Act and its present interpretation in case law upon its head. In a broad sense the statutory scheme for treating sexually dangerous persons has reversed its course from its inception to the present time. As explicated in People v. Redlich (1949), 402 Ill. 270, 83 N.E.2d 736, the initial Criminal Sexual Psychopathic Persons Act contemplated a mental disorder of the nature and quality then designated “insanity” so that a person so defined should not be required to plead or stand trial until he had been found to be recovered. Trial upon the charged offense was required following treatment and recovery from the mental disability found by the commitment. Redlich; People v. Sims (1943), 382 Ill. 472, 47 N.E.2d 703. The Sexually Dangerous Persons Act adopted in 1955 provided a different course and expressed a different rationale. In section 9 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par. 105—9) it provided for discharge of a person found to be a sexually dangerous person when he was subsequently found to be recovered, or a conditional discharge under supervision and culminates in the language: “Upon an order of discharge every outstanding information and indictment, the basis of which was the reason for the present detention, shall be quashed.” Consistently, that section also provided that if there was a violation of a conditional discharge under supervision, the conditional release should be revoked and the person recommitted under the terms of the original commitment. A rational interpretation of such text is that the legislature created an alternative of treatment to that of prosecution upon the charged offense. People v. Patch (1972), 9 Ill. App. 3d 134, 293 N.E.2d 661. In People v. English (1964), 31 Ill. 2d 301, 201 N.E.2d 455, the court considered the issue of privilege against self-incrimination where the court ordered a psychiatric examination as provided by the statute. The opinion described the purpose of the Act in the language: “Since the Sexually Dangerous Persons Act provides for involuntary confinement, although it be for the treatment of the defendant rather than punishment for a crime, it is natural that some of the same safeguards which are applicable in a criminal prosecution be applied to the proceedings under the act.” 31 Ill. 2d 301, 304, 201 N.E.2d 455, 458. In People v. Shiro (1972), 52 Ill. 2d 279, 287 N.E.2d 708, defendant was committed as a sexually dangerous person. He was thereafter transferred from the psychiatric division to the penitentiary where he received no treatment. Defendant sought a hearing claiming recovery. The psychiatrist reported that it could not be stated definitively whether defendant remained dangerous, and the trial court dismissed the petition for discharge. The supreme court stated: “The defendant’s charge that he had been transferred from the psychiatric division of the penitentiary to the general division of the penitentiary, where he has been receiving no treatment directed to his recovery should not have been summarily dismissed. Those persons who are adjudged sexually dangerous under the Act are committed to the care of the Director of Corrections, but this does not imply that they are to be treated as criminal prisoners. The Act states that the Director of Corrections ‘shall provide care and treatment for the person committed to him designed to effect recovery’ and that such persons shall be held ‘in any facility in the Department of Corrections or portion thereof set aside for the care and treatment of sexually dangerous persons.’ (Emphasis supplied.) Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969, ch. 38, par. 105—8.” 52 Ill. 279, 283, 287 N.E.2d 708, 711. In People v. Pembrock (1974), 23 Ill. App. 3d 991, 320 N.E.2d 470, the court.discussed the burden of proof required to support commitment as a sexually dangerous person. The court stated: “While both the civil proceedings in question and criminal prosecutions may result in a loss of liberty, substantial differences exist between them. Foremost among these are that in a commitment under the Act there is no inference of moral blameworthiness since a finding of sexual dangerousness indicates that a defendant’s inability to conform to the dictates of the law is the product of a mental illness and, secondly, commitment under the Act, unlike criminal incarceration, is not intended as punishment.” (23 Ill. App. 3d 991, 995, 320 N.E.2d 470, 473, aff'd (1976), 62 Ill. 2d 317, 342 N.E.2d 28.) See also People v. Sly (1980), 82 Ill. App. 3d 742, 403 N.E.2d 72. Upon no more authority than the apparent statement of one assistant State’s Attorney, that another assistant State’s Attorney said it could be done, the prosecution here was permitted to accumulate two inconsistent forms of incarceration — one for punishment as a crime and one as a supposed treatment for a mental condition. Since punishment of incarceration here imposed initially destroys and makes useless any treatment as a sexually dangerous person, the purpose and requirements of the Sexually Dangerous Persons Act are judicially ignored. The order finding defendant a sexually dangerous person should be treated as void and vacated. See People v. Redlich (1949), 402 Ill. 270, 83 N.E.2d 736, and People v. Patch (1972), 9 Ill. App. 3d 134, 293 N.E.2d 661.