Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Civil Rights Claims that Sex-Offender Treatment Violate 5th, 14th Amendments Dismissed

Doe v. Heil, -- Fed. Appx. --, 2013 WL 4504772 (10th Cir. 8/26/13)(Colo.)(unpublished) - the Tenth decides the district court properly dismissed civil rights claims asserting violations of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and Fourteenth Amendment right to substantive due process by conditioning the release of Mr. Doe, a convicted sex offender, on progress in sex-offender treatment that in turn required him to cooperate on polygraph tests and disclosure of a full personal sexual history. With respect to the self-incrimination claim, Mr. Doe did not plead sufficient facts to permit a court to plausibly infer that the state policies were not reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. With respect to the liberty interest claim, Mr. Doe did not plead sufficient facts to establish a constitutionally protected liberty interest in continued sex-offender treatment.