People v. Williams

In Kansas v. Crane (2002) 534 U.S. 407 [ 151 L.Ed.2d 856 , 122 S.Ct. 867 ], the United States Supreme Court held that the safeguards of personal liberty embodied in the due process guaranty of the federal Constitution prohibit the involuntary confinement of persons on the basis that they are dangerously disordered without “proof [that they have] serious difficulty in controlling [their dangerous] behavior.” (Id. at p. 413.) California’s Sexually Violent Predators Act (SVPA or Act; Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600 et seq.) 1 does not use that precise language in defining who is eligible for involuntary civil commitment as a sexually violent predator.

In September 2001, before Kansas v. Crane, supra, 534 U.S. 407 , was decided, defendant was committed under the SVPA by a jury that received instructions in the statutory language. However, the jury was not separately and specifically instructed on the need to find serious difficulty in controlling behavior. Defendant claims a separate “control” instruction was constitutionally necessary under Kansas v. Crane.

The Court of Appeal correctly rejected this contention. By its express terms, the SVPA limits persons eligible for…

In Kansas v. Crane (2002) 534 U.S. 407 [ 151 L.Ed.2d 856 , 122 S.Ct. 867 ], the United States Supreme Court said that a defendant can be confined as a dangerous sexual predator only upon proof of “serious difficulty in controlling behavior.” (Id. at p. 413.) California’s Sexually Violent Predators Act (SVPA) (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6600 et seq.), enacted before Crane was filed, applies to a person who has a “diagnosed mental disorder that makes the person a danger to the health and safety of others in that it is likely that he or she will engage in sexually violent *779 criminal behavior.” (Id., § 6600, subd. (a)(1).) A “diagnosed mental disorder” is defined to include a condition “affecting the emotional or volitional capacity that predisposes the person to the commission of criminal sexual acts in a degree constituting the person a menace to the health and safety of others.” (Id., § 6600, subd. (c).) The SVPA is not expressly limited to defendants who have serious difficulty in controlling their behavior.

Taking the language of the SVPA literally, a person could be confined as a sexually violent predator based on a condition that affects his emotional capacity by making the…