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Published June 26, 2011, 12:00 AM

How offenders get committed in Minnesota

It’s up to each county to recommend an offender be committed to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. Before an offender’s release from incarceration, a Department of Corrections Board reviews the offender’s records to determine if a commitment recommendation should be made.

It’s up to each county to recommend an offender be committed to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. Before an offender’s release from incarceration, a Department of Corrections Board reviews the offender’s records to determine if a commitment recommendation should be made.

If a county seeks commitment, the case will go to trial in front of a judge. Minnesota is one of the few states in the country that doesn’t have jury trials for civil commitment.

A judge can indefinitely commit a person for sex offender treatment if he or she finds that the offender is a “sexual psychopathic personality,” a “sexually dangerous person” or both.

To be classified a sexual psychopathic personality, the person:

  • Has engaged in a habitual course of sexual misconduct.

  • Has an utter lack of power to control their sexual impulses.

  • As a result, is dangerous to others.

    A sexually dangerous person is someone who:

  • Has engaged in a course of harmful sexual conduct that creates a substantial likelihood of serious physical or emotional harm to another.*

  • The person has a sexual, personality or mental disorder.

  • The person is likely to engage in harmful sexual conduct in the future.

  • Being classified as a sexually dangerous person means that person might not have been convicted of committing a physical sex crime. The News Tribune was only able to identify one such person committed to MSOP. That person, Dwane David Peterson, 31, according to records, sent numerous letters threatening sexually violent acts to another person. He has been committed since 2007. He was also convicted of kidnapping an elderly man in 2001.

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