New sex predator law facing legal tests

Attorneys for two Bay Area sex offenders are poised to test the constitutionality of a new state law that allows convicts designated as sexually violent predators to be held indefinitely in mental hospitals after they have completed their prison terms. The new law does away with a previous law's provision guaranteeing predators a new civil trial every two years to determine whether they should still be held at a state mental hospital.

source: Article 'New sex predator law facing legal tests' by John Coté; www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/BAGMTLTPGG1.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea; 22 October 2006