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26 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 1 (2016-2017)
Twenty Years after Kansas v. Hendricks: Reforming the Kansas Sexual Predator Treatment Program Is Crucial to the Future of the Kansas Sexually Violent Predator Act

handle is hein.journals/kjpp26 and id is 9 raw text is: TWENTY YEARS AFTER KANSAS V. HENDRICKS: REFORMING THE KANSAS SEXUAL PREDATOR TREATMENT PROGRAM IS CRUCIAL TO THE FUTURE OF THE KANSAS SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR ACT By Justine T. Koehle* INTRODUCTION In July 1993, Stephanie Schmidt, a student at Pittsburgh State University, was abducted, raped, and strangled to death by Donald Ray Gideon.' Gideon was a convicted rapist who had recently been released from prison.2 This horrific and highly publicized crime created a public demand for more severe punishments for sex offenders.3 Likely motivated by Ms. Schmidt's murder, the Kansas Legislature enacted the Kansas Sexually Violent Predator Act (KSVPA) in 1994.4 The KSVPA allows for the potentially indefinite civil commitment of sexually violent predators with a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes them likely to engage in repeat acts of sexual violence and renders them extremely dangerous to society.5 As a means to achieve its desired end of no new victims, the KSVPA subjects any person found to be a sexually violent predator to potentially long-term commitment for control, care, and treatment in the Kansas Sexual Predator Treatment Program (SPTP).6 Leroy Hendricks, the first person civilly committed under the KSVPA, challenged its constitutionality in 1997.7 However, the Supreme Court found the KSVPA was *J.D. Candidate 2017, University of Kansas School of Law; B.A. (Anthropology), University of California, Davis. I would like to thank my mom, Tammy Duggan, and Thomas Anderson for their endless love and support. I would also like to thank Professor Richard Levy and Professor Pamela Keller for their insightful comments and guidance. 1. Steve Fry, Friend's Death Led Prosecutor to Field, CJONLINE.COM (Mar. 18, 2005), http://cjonline.com/stories/031805/kanwilson.shtml#.Vg21lXv6SRs; see State v. Gideon, 257 Kan. 591, 595-96 (1995). 2. Stephen R. McAllister, The Constitutionality of Kansas Laws Targeting Sex Offenders, 36 WASHBURN L.J. 419, 419 (1997). 3. Id.; David J. Gottlieb, Preventive Detention of Sex Offenders, 50 U. KAN. L. REV. 1031, 1047 (2002). 4. KAN. STAT. ANN. § 59-29a01(a) (Supp. 2015). 5. Id. 6. Id. 7. Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U.S. 346, 350 (1997). 1

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