Jun
29
2012
By ielr
Link:
The British High Court blocked the extradition to Minnesota of Shawn Sullivan, a U.S. citizen accused of raping a 14-year-old girl and molesting two other underage girls in the 1990s. The judges ruled that, because Minnesota's treatment program for sex offenders was too harsh. The program allows judges in civil courts to commit peresons to the program, even if they have not been convicted of a crime or declared mentally ill. Also, almost no one has ever been released from the program, the British court found. The prospect of indefinite civil detention proved too draconian for the British judges, who denied the extradition request.