A charge or arrest on suspicion that you are a sex offender can be humiliating and frightening. You will have to make several difficult decisions if you are in trouble with the law on suspicion that you are a suspect in a sex crime case. However, the most important decision is hiring an attorney to represent your best interests and be your voice in court for the best possible outcome on the alleged sex crime.

Aside from the possible lengthy jail time and fines, a sex crime conviction can result in harsh penalties, including possible mental health evaluations. Although you are innocent until the prosecutor proves you are guilty of the offense, you can take a plea of your choice, including a guilty plea, during the arraignment hearing.

However, understand that being under arrest does not mean the allegations you are up against are true. You will have a chance to challenge the alleged crime beyond a reasonable doubt by arguing that the allegations you are facing are untrue for the best attainable outcome, including dismissal of the case or a lighter charge.

If you are arrested or charged with a sex crime, our attorneys at Virginia Sex Crime Attorney can help. Aside from being your legal counsel, we will help you overcome obstacles at every stage of the legal justice system to obtain the best possible verdict. Read on for more information about mental health evaluations and sentencing options for convicted sex offenders.

Sentencing for Convicted Sex Offenders

Undoubtedly, sex crimes are grave offenses that the prosecutors and the court treat very seriously. If you are under arrest on suspicion that you are a culprit or suspect in a sex crime case, the prosecutor will pursue the most severe charges against you. The judge also has the leeway to sentence you to the most severe punishment if you are guilty of any sex offense, including (but not limited to):

  • Forcible sodomy.
  • Aggravated sexual assault.
  • Sexual battery.
  • Rape.
  • Attempted sexual crime.
  • Indecent exposure.
  • Violent sexual abuse.

The available sentencing options for these offenses range from possible lengthy jail time and hefty fines for felony sex offenses to no imprisonment and a lesser fine for a lighter misdemeanor offense. Generally speaking, a conviction for a sex crime can result in the following potential penalties:

  • Imprisonment.
  • Fines.
  • Probation.
  • Inclusion in the sex offender registry.
  • Mental health evaluations and other special conditions and requirements.

Mental Health Evaluation at a Glance

As the name suggests, a mental health evaluation or test is an examination of a defendant's mental state and capacity by a licensed and qualified expert. In most cases, the judge could require a qualified expert to conduct a mental evaluation of you after an arrest on suspicion that you are a suspect in a sex crime case.

The primary purpose of conducting the mental health test is to establish whether there are chances that you can re-offend and your amenability to treatment. The mental health evaluation is also necessary to:

  • Help guide and direct the specific recommendations required for your treatment and supervision.
  • Help provide information that will help identify an ideal setting or environment, the intensity of the intervention, and the necessary supervision level.
  • Help determine your possible danger or threat in the community or society.

Va. Code 19.2-301 defines the requirement for mental health evaluations for defendants under arrest or charged with sexually-related crimes. According to this statute, once you are charged with a sex crime, the judge could require you to undergo a mental health assessment by a qualified and experienced psychiatrist or clinical psychologist.

If a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist is unavailable to conduct the evaluation, the court could select a licensed and qualified medical social worker to do so. Aside from being licensed, the social worker must be approved as qualified to offer sexual offender rehabilitation and treatment services under Va. Code 54.1-3600.

The examiner must also have the relevant specialized training and experience approved by the Commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) to continue offering these examinations.

The examination can occur in a detention facility or an outpatient center in a licensed mental health center. However, when the judge presiding over your case finds that outpatient services are unavailable, he/she could require you to be admitted to any hospital facility selected by the DBHDS as ideal and appropriate for evaluating people with sex crime convictions.

The same will apply if the examination results at the outpatient center reveal that hospitalization is necessary for further evaluation of your mental health condition. If that is the case, you will remain in the hospital for the period the hospital or clinic director finds adequate or necessary to conduct the required evaluation or assessment.

However, the maximum period you are hospitalized should not exceed thirty (30) days (from your admission date). Once you complete the required assessment, the psychologist will compile a comprehensive report of the results or findings, plus his/her conclusions, and give you a copy.

Then, he/she will hand over another duplicate to your attorney, prosecutor, and judge within five (5) days before your sentence proceeding. Every party receiving a duplicate of the examiner's report must keep it confidential unless the report is necessary or required for the prosecution or defense of any offense.

What You Need to Know About Mental Health Assessment or Evaluation

Like other forensic assessment tests, the mental health assessment of an alleged or convicted sex offender involves the following:

  • Conducting a comprehensive psychiatric assessment.
  • Contacting various sources of information to confirm the details that you, the defendant, will provide.
  • Reviewing the police report and your criminal record.
  • Keen assessment of your arousal patterns, deviant or abnormal sexual interests, and detailed sexual history.

The examiners conducting the clinical examination of your behavioral tendencies and sexual record or history will use sexual examination questionnaires as a guide to help him/her draw his/her conclusions.

Aside from securing your report on arousal patterns and sexual interests, the psychologist or psychiatrist will incorporate objective strategies to gauge your sexual desires and preferences. Below are common physiologic assessment methods your psychologist will use to assess your sexual arousal:

Polygraph Assessments

A defendant charged with or guilty of any sex crime has little incentive to provide accurate information about his/her adherence to the necessary treatment or misconduct. The psychologist will use polygraph assessments to confirm or verify the details or information you provide about the alleged offense, conduct, and past criminal background.

The polygraph will also help study the correctness of the available reports on your adherence to the court-ordered terms of probation and the required treatment plans. A polygraph assessment or test is a reliable and effective method to convince a defendant to disclose more information and obtain his/her detailed sexual offense history.

The results of this test will also depend more on the skills of the psychiatrist or psychologist who will conduct the test on you. However, like most psychological tests, people often criticize polygraph tests for lacking standardization and generalization of the possible outcomes.

Visual Reaction Time

Visual reaction time is the average time you spend looking or staring at a specific object. Psychologists or mental health examiners consider this test a non-invasive method for determining the degree of your sexual interest in people of different ages and genders. In this test, the psychologist will use the Abel Assessment mechanism to gauge your sexual interests.

The Abel Assessment will help a psychologist predict whether there are chances that you are a sexual predator based on your visual reaction speed. The Abel Assessment test mechanism has subjective and objective components designed to measure or gauge a defendant's sexual interests based on his/her age and gender.

On the subjective side, the psychologist will give you a questionnaire specifically designed to collect information about the following:

  • Your sexual preferences and behaviors.
  • The self-disclosed ability to control your sexual interests and behaviors.
  • Your criminal background.

The questionnaire will also help the psychologist gauge whether:

  • You make mental misrepresentations about having sex with children.
  • You are faking your test outcome.
  • You fit the statistical profile for offenders or predators who have committed sex crimes against minors (under 18).

Conversely, the objective side of the evaluation involves gauging the visual reaction speed beyond your current awareness while looking at 160 slides showing clothed children, teens, and adults. During the test, the examiner will allow you to rank your sexual arousal level according to the displayed visual stimuli or cues.

How Mental Health Evaluations Could Be Advantageous to Your Case as an Alleged or Convicted Sex Offender

A mental health examination by a psychologist could be advantageous to you in many ways. For example, disclosing potential red flags that could have led to the false allegation could benefit you if you are a victim of false allegations, which is not uncommon in sex-related crimes.

Additionally, mental health examinations or evaluations could be advantageous if you need your name off the sexual offender registry if the following is true:

  • You have received the required treatment.
  • You have a continued period of staying crime-free.

During post-conviction or presentencing, a mental health examination could help the court recommend an appropriate or suitable treatment for your unique case. A mental health examination will help psychologists or psychiatrists examine and gauge an alleged or convicted sex offender's sexual characteristics, including the following:

  • The risk of you committing a sexual or non-sexual offense.
  • The deviant or abnormal sexual patterns you have.
  • Amenability to treatment intervention.
  • Any specific changeable, pervasive, or criminogenic needs.
  • Whether or not you have any mental health problems or disorder.

Generally speaking, a mental health examination of an alleged sex offender does not determine the following:

  • Whether you are guilty of the alleged offense.
  • Whether you are a sexual predator or not.
  • Whether you need a sexual predator or offender profile for your case.

A mental health assessment is necessary during presentencing for a sex crime conviction to assist the prosecutor and jury in making knowledgeable and well-informed judgments regarding your appropriate sentence. Although the mental health assessment could be helpful to you and the alleged sex crime, a reliable attorney will do everything necessary to prevent you from undergoing this examination.

Potential Civil Commitments You Could Face After a Sexual Offender Mental Health Examination

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the court could order a sexual offender's mental health examination or evaluation to determine your likelihood of re-offending after your release to the community.

Therefore, if you are guilty of a sex crime, your crime was violent, you pose a danger to the community, or the examination report or results conclude that you are likely to re-offend, the judge could require some civil commitments. The primary objective of civil commitments in sexual-related crimes is to have habitual offenders removed from the community for indefinite or extended periods.

However, the court can only order civil commitments for your case once you complete or serve a certain sentence period for your conviction and do not have any other pending violations or alleged crimes. Rather than penalizing previous crimes, this involuntary detention is typically about the likelihood or possibility that you could re-offend after your release into society.

The DBHDS office will preside over the entire civil commitment duration to ensure you receive the necessary treatment for your offense. However, the civil circuit court is ultimately obligated to decide whether civil commitment for treatment as a sex offender is necessary in your case.

According to the Sexually Violent Predators Act (SVP Act) under Va. Code 37.2-900, civil commitments could be necessary in your case if the following is true:

  • You have a pending alleged sex crime, and the court has found you unfit to stand trial or prosecution.
  • You are serving time in a Department of Corrections (DOC) facility for a violent sex crime conviction, but you are about to finish your sentence period.

However, the DOC must first screen or conduct a background check on you using a factual or evidence-based formula approved by them and the DBHDS. Depending on this screening outcome, the DOC could require that you undergo another mental or psychological examination if they consider you likely to commit another crime.

A certified and licensed psychiatrist, psychologist, or clinical officer will conduct this psychological examination, but the interagency committee could conduct a more comprehensive screening and review of you. The interagency committee comprises delegates from the DOC, DBHDS, and the District Attorney's (D.A.) office.

Once the committee concludes its screening and review process, it will compile a recommendation suggesting whether the prosecutor should file a petition against you in circuit court requesting civil commitment. If the prosecutor files the petition, the court will schedule a probable cause proceeding or hearing within 90 days.

When the court finds probable cause to believe you are a violent sexual offender or wrongdoer, it will schedule and hold a trial hearing within 120 days. When the judge finds you a violent sexual offender, he/she will determine whether to have you civilly committed to inpatient treatment or release you under certain conditions.

During the hearings and trials, you will have particular rights and protections, including the right to:

  • Court-chosen lawyer if you cannot afford a personal attorney.
  • Be notified about the proceedings.
  • Attend the hearings or trial.
  • Present your proof.
  • Remain silent or testify.
  • Cross-examine any witnesses.
  • Qualified court-selected psychologist to assist you at trial.

When the circuit court judge orders a civil commitment for your case, he/she will send you to a secure, intensive, inpatient sexual offenders rehabilitation and treatment program or course at any facility managed by the DBHDS. You will have a legal right to an annual review hearing every year during your first five (5) years.

During each hearing, the judge presiding over your case will review whether you are still a violent sexual offender and determine whether supervised inpatient rehabilitation and treatment are necessary. You have a legal right to have a court-appointed attorney represent you during these review hearings for the best possible outcome.

Discharge or Release from the Court-Ordered Commitment Facility

When the judge finds that you are no longer a danger or threat to the community, he/she could give you a conditional discharge from the rehabilitation and treatment program. If you are eligible for a conditional release, the DBHDS will work with the court to plan and devise the conditions of your release that you must comply with for the required period.

To ensure your compliance with the conditions of your release, the court could require you to wear a GPS tracker for easy tracking of your whereabouts. The court could also appoint a probation officer to monitor and ensure your compliance with the required discharge conditions.

However, before your release, your attorney must file a court petition explaining why you are an excellent candidate to secure a discharge and join the community. Sometimes, a hearing could be necessary to determine whether you qualify to join the society. When the court finds you no longer a danger to your community, you will receive your discharge immediately.

However, it is worth noting that you could be re-arrested after discharge if you fail to comply with the required or laid-down conditions. When that happens, the court will hold a hearing, which could result in the following:

  • Cancelation of the conditional release and commitment in the DBHDS facility.
  • A stern warning and reinstatement of the conditional release with stricter conditions.
  • Reinstatement of conditional release with the same conditions.

The available evidence against you and your attorney's mitigating arguments will determine the court's decision after your re-arrest for violating the terms of your conditional discharge. Therefore, it is vital to have a reliable attorney represent your best interests at every stage of the legal justice system if you are under investigation, under arrest, or charged with a sex crime.

Ensure the attorney you will retain to represent you in court if you are under arrest on suspicion that you are a sex offender is qualified, licensed, reputable, and accessible.

Find a Reliable Sex Crime Attorney Near Me

Even when you are certain that you are currently in an excellent mental state, undergoing a mental health examination can be stressful and disturbing. Sadly, if the court requires you to undergo this examination, you will have no option but to do so. However, with the help of a skilled sex crime attorney, you could prevent it if you are charged or under arrest on suspicion that you are a sex offender.

If you are in trouble with the law on suspicion that you are a culprit in a sex crime case, you should consider hiring a skilled attorney without delay. Our attorneys at Virginia Sex Crime Attorney will thoroughly review the details and facts of the alleged crime to prepare solid defenses to help you avoid the possible mental health assessment or evaluation requirement and obtain the best possible outcome.

We understand how circuit courts work and will do what we do best to help you secure the best possible outcome for the alleged sex crime. We invite you to call us at 571-933-8494 for an obligation-free consultation with our understanding attorneys, wherever you are in Virginia.