Note: The following article was published in the March/April 2004 issue of Town Life, a magazine that circulates in the White Bear Lake-Maplewood area.
The abduction of Dru Sjodin has prompted intense public debate over what can be done to protect the public against sexual predators. We asked Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner to share her thoughts on this issue.
Q: In the wake of Dru Sjodin's abuduction, the Minnesota Department of Corrections began referring all Level 3 sex offenders to county attorneys for possible civil commitment. (Level 3 offenders have been classified at the highest risk to re-offend among those sex offenders due for release from prison.) How have these referrals impacted the Ramsey County Attorney's Office?
Gaertner: Our office has received 50 referrals since December 2003, when the Department of Corrections adopted its new policy. By comparison, we received only one referral in 2003 before the new policy took effect. We have assigned additional staff to handle the large increase in our caseload. It's a big job, but we welcome the opportunity to review these cases. The number of referrals from the state had decreased dramatically over the past few years, and that was a concern. The new process will enable us to review cases we might not otherwise have seen, but which should be reviewed.
Q. Do you anticipate that the County Attorney's Office will move ahead with committing some of these offenders?
Gaertner: Each case is being thoroughly reviewed. We will aggressively pursue civil commitment for those offenders who meet the criteria. We may very well see cases that should be pursued, including some that might not have been referred to us in the past.
Q. What happens to sex offenders who are civilly committed? Can they ever be released?
Gaertner: They are placed in a secure hospital facility for treatment of whatever mental disorder contributes to their dangerousness. They can be released, but only if expert psychiatric and psychological evaluations demonstrate they no longer are likely to exhibit sexual predator behavior.
Q. Is civil commitment a good solution for protecting the public against sexual predators?
Gaertner: Civil commitment is an excellent solution in a narrow range of cases. This process, however, may be used only for the most dangerous offenders in the community -- not for everyone we're afraid of. The courts have imposed very strict limits on the use of civil commitment -- primarily because of constitutional issues. That's because civil commitment confines people for what we think they are going to do -- rather than for what they already have done.
Q. What experience have you had personally with handling such cases?
Gaertner: I was the petitioner for the state of Minnesota in the indefinite commitment of Dennis Linehan, a dangerous sexual predator who murdered one of his victims. The petition was filed in 1994, and I tried the case in 1995. This was the first case tried under Minnesota’s Sexually Dangerous Persons Act. That law strengthened the commitment statute. It was enacted because the Minnesota Supreme Court overturned the commitment of Linehan under an earlier version of the law.
Q. How much does the prosecution of sex offenders cost the taxpayers of Ramsey County?
Gaertner: We prosecute more than 150 criminal sexual conduct cases in a typical year. These are some of our most time-intensive cases, both for the attorneys and the victim/witness advocates who help victims work through the trauma of testifying. It's difficult to put a specific price tag on this process. These cases may be "expensive" in terms of the time they take, but no price is too high to take sex offenders off the streets.
Q. Have the costs increased since the state began referring all sex offender cases to your office?
Gaertner: Recent procedural changes by the Department of Corrections resulted in shifting some responsibility from the state to county attorney offices in terms of reviewing and investigating cases for possible civil commitment. This change required our County Board to invest $225,000 to cover the unexpected expenses of processing these cases.
Q. Is there a website where the public can find out where sex offenders live/work in Ramsey County?
Gaertner: The Department of Corrections maintains a website with information about Level 3 sex offenders. The address is: http://www.corr.state.mn.us/level3/Search.asp. Law enforcement agencies decide, on a case-by-case basis, what information is to be posted on each offender.
Q. Who is most at risk of being a sexual assault victim in Ramsey County, in terms of age and sex. What safety precautions should they take?
Gaertner: Females ages 12 to 24 are at the greatest risk of sexual assault, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Nationally, women are 16 times more likely than men to be sexually assaulted. In our office, we see female and male victims of all ages. Sadly, some of these victims are assaulted in family settings. Stranger abductions and assaults are relatively rare. In terms of prevention, it is important to be vigilant of your surroundings. Most law enforcement agencies provide helpful information on ways for individuals and communities to reduce the risk of sexual assault.
Q. What should citizens do to prevent Level 3 sex offenders from being released? Whom should they contact?
Gaertner: A Level 3 designation is the result of a review process at the end of a sex offender's confinement in prison. This review considers the inmate's success in sex offender treatment and his risk of re-offending, among many other factors. It's part of the notification effort to provide the public with important information on the presence of these offenders in the community. A Level 3 offender has completed his prison sentence, so the public can't stop his release. Some Level 3 offenders, however, may meet the criteria for civil commitment. The Minnesota Legislature will be weighing a number of proposals to strengthen laws relating to sex offenders. Citizens may want to contact their legislators about these proposals.
Q. What should be done to avoid another tragedy like the abduction of Dru Sjodin?
Gaertner: There will always be some risk of such horrible crimes. What we must do is minimize that risk to the greatest extent possible. I favor a radical change in the way sex offenders are sentenced. As it stands now, a sex offender must be released once his prison sentence expires, even if he seems at high risk to re-offend. A new, open-ended sentencing system for these dangerous predators would provide much better protection for the public. Under this system, a parole board or the corrections commissioner could extend an offender's confinement to the maximum sentence if he still appears to be a high risk. I am hopeful the Legislature will adopt such a law.