Louisiana Law Review
Fall 2014
Fear of an Undeterrable Other
Fredrick E. Vars
Fear of an Undeterrable Other
Fear of an Undeterrable Other
Fredrick E. Vars*
ABSTRACT
America is presently fighting a war on terror and a war on sex
offenders. In each, the government openly detains hundreds of
individuals not for what they have done, but for what they might
do. Some warn that this greatest restriction on liberty may expand
to other types of people. This Article examines the risk of such
expansion by putting our current wars in historical perspective.
The two main conclusions are: (1) some categories of people
detained in prior periods are not being detained today; and (2) the
risk of expansion is real but lower than previously suggested.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ....................................................................................1
Introduction ..............................................................................2
I. National Security .....................................................................5
A. World War II ......................................................................5
B. Oklahoma City Bombing ...................................................8
C. “War on Terror” .................................................................9
II. Mental Defect .........................................................................13
A. First-Generation Sex Offender Laws ...............................14
B. Second-Generation Sex Offender Laws ...........................17
C. Virginia Tech Shooting ....................................................20
III. Prospects for Expansion .........................................................22
Conclusion .............................................................................27
Copyright 2014, by FREDRICK E. VARS.
* Associate Professor, University of Alabama School of Law. J.D., Yale
University. A.B., Princeton University. Thanks to Adam Cox, Caroline Harada,
Eric Janus, David Patton, Andrew Townsley, and Carol Montgomery.