Supreme Court of California

The current extended detention scheme set forth in Welfare and Institutions Code section 1800 et seq. satisfies the due process and equal protection clauses of the state and federal Constitutions. The scheme's requirements adequately limit its applicability to youthful offenders whose mental deficiency, disorder, or abnormality causes them to be physically dangerous to the public if not recommitted. Also, a further finding that an inability to control behavior results in "a serious and well-founded risk of reoffense" is not required to preserve the scheme's constitutionality.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/24/2007
• Published 05/24/2007

Judges

• CHIN, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Patricia N. Cooney, Berkeley, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant., Margaret Roberts for Protection and Advocacy, Inc., Oakland, as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant., David C. Coleman, Public Defender (Contra Costa) and Ron Boyer, Deputy Public Defender, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant., Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, Robert R. Anderson and Mary Jo Graves, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Gerald A. Engler and Dane R. Gillette, Assistant Attorneys General, Martin S. Kaye, Michael E. Banister, Catherine A. Rivlin and Bridget Billeter, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.