united-states civil-law
Please explain Linehan I factors to a lay person
<p>I see "<em>Linehan I</em> factors" mentioned in some civil commitment decisions published on-line e.g. <a href="https://mn.gov/law-library-stat/archive/ctapun/0810/opa080962-1104.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this one from Minessota</a>. Can someone explain where they come from and what their status is in US law? From what I can gather it's a Minnesota supreme court decision (so only applies there), but I could be wrong. Is there something more generally applicable in that respect in the US?</p>

<p>The <em>Linehan I</em> factors are the six factors set forth by the Minnesota Supreme Court in the case <em>In re Linehan</em>, 518 N.W.2d 609, 614 (Minn. 1994) (<em>Linehan I</em>) for trial courts to consider with regarding to likelihood of engaging in future harmful sexual conduct when faced with the question of whether civil commitment of a sex offender who has completed his criminal sentence is legal and not an unconstitutional <em>ex post facto</em> increase in a criminal sentence under the Minnesota statute authorizing the civil commitment of sex offenders who have completed their criminal sentences. The factors are (from the link in the question):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The supreme court has set forth six factors to be considered in
  examining the likelihood that an offender will engage in future
  harmful sexual conduct: (1) the offender’s demographic
  characteristics; (2) the offender’s history of violent behavior; (3)
  the base-rate statistics for violent behavior among individuals with
  the offender’s background; (4) the sources of stress in the offender’s
  environment; (5) the similarity of the present or future context to
  those contexts in which the offender used violence in the past; and
  (6) the offender’s record of participation in sex-therapy programs.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Offender's "demographic characteristics" basically refer to age and gender.</p>

<p>This test applies only in Minnesota applying its civil commitment statute, but many U.S. states have similar statutes and similar standards governing how to apply them. If they are not sufficiently independent of the underlying sex offense conviction, the laws are unconstitutional and void.</p>
