New California Supreme Court Case Concerning Sex Offender Treatment: People v. Ignacio Garcia S218197 (3/20/17)

• Publication year: 2017
• Author: By Leif M. Dautch

NEW CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT CASE CONCERNING SEX OFFENDER TREATMENT: PEOPLE V. IGNACIO GARCIA S218197 (3/20/17)

By Leif M. Dautch^*

In People v. Garcia, the California Supreme Court upheld the legality of various probation conditions for convicted sex offenders, including a required waiver of "any privilege against self-incrimination" during participation in sex offender treatment programs. The Court also addressed the propriety of polygraph examinations and the waiver of psychotherapist-patient privilege.

Applying the canon of constitutional avoidance, the Supreme Court held that the required self-incrimination waiver could be interpreted as a narrow waiver of a sex offender's right to refuse to answer questions during treatment sessions, rather than a broad waiver of his or her Fifth Amendment protections. Moreover, the Court held that the "penalty exception" from Minnesota v. Murphy would invariably bar the introduction of any compelled statements at a later criminal trial, and that a judicial rule of immunity would provide added assurance for probationers. Finally, the Court rejected the claim that conditioning probation on the waiver of psychotherapist-patient privilege violated the constitutional right to privacy.

The decision noted the large number of sex offenders, and the challenges in managing and supervising them. The decision stressed the importance of sex offender...