What's Civil Commitment? Why Should You Care? - Trevor Hoppe

What is Civil Commitment? Why Should You Care?
In the United States, thousands of people are currently held in preventive detention for a crime they have not yet committed. Most are shuffled from prison to another detention facility immediately after serving their time. Civil commitment is indeterminate in length and can go on for decades or even life, concluding only if they can satisfy the authorities that they do not pose a danger to society. The first part of this workshop will provide the ABC's of civil commitment: What is it? What states use it? How many people are impacted? And what does the research say about how these laws are enforced differently based on a person's race and sexuality? The second half of the workshop will focus on the civil commitment program in Minnesota as a case study of how this practice works. It will close with an inspiring presentation of what these "civil commits" at Minnesota's Moose Lake Facility are doing on the inside to end this draconian practice, led by the abolition group OCEAN (Overcoming Corruption, Empowering All Nations)
Presenter: Dr. Trevor Hoppe
Bios: Dr. Trevor Hoppe is associate professor of sociology at UNC Greensboro. He is the author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning book, Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness, and co-editor of the books, The War on Sex and Unsafe Words: Queering Consent in the #MeToo Era.
NARSOL is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization exclusively dedicated to defending the constitutional liberties of registered citizens and their families.NARSOL opposes dehumanizing registries and works to eliminate discrimination, banishment, and vigilantism against persons accused or convicted of sexual offenses through the use of impact litigation, public education, legislative advocacy, and media outreach in order to reintegrate and reconcile affected individuals and restore their constitutional rights.
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