Senate Leader Atkins’ Legislation to Strengthen Legal Process for Supervised Civil Commitment of Sexually Violence Predators Passes Senate Public Safety Committee

SACRAMENTO – The Senate Public Safety Committee today passed SB 1034, legislation by Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) that strengthens the process for consideration of civil commitment of sexually violent predators and creates a housing committee of legal and local stakeholders to evaluate individuals and community safety needs after a court has determined that the person can be safely released back into the community with supervision.

“This bill recognizes that the current process for placing individuals through the Conditional Release Program needs to be strengthened, streamlined, and made more transparent for the sake of community safety,” Pro Tem Atkins said. “Without this legislation, formerly incarcerated sexually violent predators might fall through the cracks into unstable housing or homelessness – thus bypassing the strict monitoring that is necessary – and land in a situation that increases their likelihood of re-offending. This bill balances the constitutional rights and dignity of those who have served their time, while also upholding public safety and protecting our communities.”

SB 1034 would authorize the court to order a status conference among stakeholders – the district attorney, sheriff or chief of police, county counsel of the offenders’ ‘home’ county, and counsel for the committed individual – to evaluate the location and housing of someone who is facing civil commitment.

When individuals have completed their criminal sentence for specific sexual offenses and require additional treatment and rehabilitation, they may be committed to state hospitals for further mental health care. While many stay in hospitals permanently, for some, a court may issue an order finding that the person can be safely released back into the community with outpatient treatment because further confinement may amount to constitutional rights violations, and authorize them to participate in the Conditional Release Program (CONREP). CONREP is a residential treatment program that includes intensive supervision, specialized treatment, drug screenings, 24-hour surveillance, polygraph examinations, and GPS tracking. CONREP is a step-down program between inpatient commitment and unconditional release, and is intended to help individuals transition back into society with critical oversight and resources. Of those who participate in the residential program upon civil commitment, none have reoffended.

The number of participant individuals is extremely small – there are currently 16 CONREP patients, with 19 more being considered for the program. Since the program began in 1996, a total of 51 sexually violent predators have been placed in CONREP.

Of those, eight were released to “transient status,” meaning the courts had to grant release due to potential constitutional rights violations.

The strengthened approach in SB 1034 would help avoid situations in which placements can be delayed and avoid individuals being released to transient status because of municipalities not participating in a meaningful way early in the process.

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Toni G. Atkins is President pro Tempore of the California Senate. Having previously served as Speaker of the California Assembly, she began her tenure in the Senate in 2016. As Senator for District 39, she represents the cities of San Diego, Coronado, Del Mar and Solana Beach. Website of President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins: www.senate.ca.gov/Atkins