that in terms of the prevalence of these statutes all 50 states and d.c. have registry requirements. 47 states have community notification requirements. all 50 states have dna or blood banks for sex offenders requirements. and 20 of the states the federal government and d.c. have laws that allow for the indefinite detention of sex offenders. i would note in the state of texas a state court of appeals relying on very much the same sort of reasoning you advocated in your note struck down texas s sexually violent predator civil commitment law. at the time i was the solicitor general of texas. i personally argued that appeal in the texas supreme court. and the texas supreme court unanimously reversed the court of appeals and upheld our statute. and if the views you advocated in law school prevailed civil commitment laws across the country would be struck down, releasing sexual predators. and under the argument community notification and dna bank laws
under the argument community notification and dna bank laws could well be struck down as well. is that an outcome that should concern people? senator, my note wasn t advocating for the striking down of those laws. my note was trying to identify criteria that i thought could be applied consistently to determine whether the laws were punitive or preventative. with respect you argued that they were punitive and you further say in the note, if they re punitive, they re on unconstitutional. let s take civil commitment laws. if you look at civil commitment laws right now, the ucla school of law estimates more than 6,300 sex offenders are detained in civil commitment programs. if the view yes advocated, those
and dna bank laws could well be struck down as well. is that an outcome that should concern people? senator, my note wucasn t advocating for the striking down of those laws. my note was trying to identify criteria that i thought would be applied consistently to determine whether the laws were punitive or preventative. either you argue they were pun tifr and you further say if they are punitive, they are unconstitutional. i was looking at four different kinds of laws and not all of them did i say were punitive. let s take civil commitments laws. if you look at civil commitment laws right now, the ucla school of law, williams institute estimate more than 3,600 offenders are in civil commitment programs. they be released to the public.
0 stems back decades and that is concerning. you wrote your note on the harvard law review on sex crimes. your note is your major academic work on the law review and yours is entitled prevention versus punishment: towards a principled distinction in the restraint of released sex offenders. and in it you argue, and i quote, a recent spate of legislation purports to regulate released sex offenders by requiring them to register with local law enforcement officials, notify community members of their presence, undergo dna testing and submit to civil commitment for an indefinite term. at many courts and commentators herald these laws as valid regulatory measures, others reject them as punitive enactments that violate the rights of individuals who have already been sanctioned for their crimes. under existing doctrine the constitutionality of sex offender statutes depends upon their characterization as essentially preventative rather than punitive. and what you go on to explain is if they
0 activism and advocacy as it concerns sexual predators that stems back decades and that is concerning. you wrote your note on the harvard law review on sex crimes. your note is your major academic work on the law review prevention versus punishment toward a principled distinction in the restraint in it you argue and i quote a recent spate of legislation reports to release sex offenders by requiring them to notify local law enforcement and submit to civil commitment for indefinite term. many say it violates the rights of individuals that have been sanctioned for their crimes. the contusionalty of sex offender statutes depends on their characterization as essentially preventsive rather than punitive. you explain if they re viewed an punitive, they re unconstitutional. if they re preventative, they are not. throughout the course of your note, you argue they should be viewed as punitive and therefore unconstitutional. indeed in the second to last page you go through each of those for ca