In 1997, in the case of Kansas v. Hendricks, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a Kansas law that allowed the involuntary commitment of sexual predators to mental institutions. This law served the noble purpose of protecting children from people like Leroy Hendricks, a man with a thirty-year history of molesting children, including his own stepchildren (Krongard 138). After being incarcerated for ten years for taking "indecent liberties" with two children in the electronics store where he worked, he was turned over to a mental institution, where he remains today after the failure of a long legal battle (Krongard 127). At first glance, this case seems simple. It would be hard to argue that Leroy Hendricks should be free; however, the case leaves some disturbing ambiguity about the precedent it sets for the involuntary commitment of the mentally ill. Traditionally, the state has been required to prove two criteria...