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Article: Throw Away the Key
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- December 13, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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For his first sex offense -- exposing himself to two girls
when he was stationed on an Army base in 1955 -- Leroy Hendricks's
sentence was a $2.90 fine. Then, after an unrelenting three-decade
career of pedophilia, he got 10 years for his last recorded offense,
molesting two boys.
Problem is, the 10 years ended in 1994 and the state of Kansas
did not want to let him loose. So it committed him to a psychiatric
institution under the state's Sexually Violent Predator Act, which
allows it to involuntarily commit habitual sex offenders upon
release from prison.
On Tuesday the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether the
law is constitutional. How can it possibly be? This is a clear case ...