Kansas V. Hendricks Case Study

The case of Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U.S. 346, (1997), is a United States Supreme Court case involving the constitutionality of a state civil commitment law, and how that law was being applied to persons who had been convicted of certain crimes. The law in question, was designed to civilly commit people who had a history of predatory sexual violence, and who had a personality disorder, or who had a mental abnormality (Cornell University, n.d.) In generic terms, the law was designed so that people, who have a history of sexual violence, and who were suffering from mental disorders or instability, could continue to be confined in order to protect the rest of society from them. The case in question, came about as a result of the passing of this law, and its use to keep Leroy Hendricks confined in a facility, so that he was segregated from the rest of society. This was done due to his extensive history of sexual violence towards children (Cornell University, n.d.). The state of Kansas passed the civil commitment law, which went into effect as Kan. Stat. Ann. 59-29a01 et seq. 1994, …show more content…
In their ruling in the case In re Hendricks 259 Kan. 246, 261, 912 P. 2d 129, 138 (1996), The Kansas Supreme Court invalidated, or set aside, the new law, based on the language used in it. The Kansas Supreme Court held that law’s pre-condition for the civil commitment, the finding of a “mental abnormality” did not meet the substantive due process requirement that a civil commitment had to be based on the diagnosis of a “mental illness” (Cornell University, n.d.). Once this ruling was handed down, the state of Kansas appealed to the United States Supreme Court. At the same time, Hendricks also filed a petition for relief with the United States Supreme