Cite as: 521 U. S. 346 (1997)
Breyer, J., dissenting
Attorney, id., at 375-376. See also Task Force on Community Protection, Final Report to Booth Gardner, Governor State of Washington II-2 (1989) (findings of task force that developed the Washington State Act, which served as a model for Kansas' Act, stating that "[s]ex offenders can be treated during incarceration"). The evidence adduced at the state habeas proceeding, were we to assume it properly before the Court, see infra, at 392-393, supports this conclusion as well. See Testimony of Dr. Befort at State Habeas Proceeding, App. 399, 406-408 (describing treatment as ward milieu and group therapy); id., at 416-417 (stating that Kansas offers similar treatment, on a voluntary basis, to prisoners). Hence, assuming, arguendo, that it would be otherwise permissible, Kansas need not postpone treatment in order to make certain that sex offenders serve their full terms of imprisonment, i. e., to make certain that they receive the entire punishment that Kansas criminal law provides. To the contrary, the statement in the Act itself, that the Act aims to respond to special "long term" "treatment needs," suggests that treatment should begin during imprisonment. It also suggests that, were those long-term treatment needs (rather than further punishment) Kansas' primary aim, the State would require that treatment begin soon after conviction, not 10 or more years later. See also Vt. Stat. Ann., Tit. 18, § 2815 (1959) (providing for treatment of sexual psychopaths first, and punishment afterwards).
Third, the statute, at least as of the time Kansas applied it to Hendricks, did not require the committing authority to consider the possibility of using less restrictive alternatives, such as postrelease supervision, halfway houses, or other methods that amici supporting Kansas here have mentioned. Brief for Menninger Foundation et al. as Amici Curiae 28; Brief for Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers as Amicus Curiae 11-12. The laws of many other States require such consideration. See Appendix, infra.
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