In Re the Care & Treatment of Van Orden

Dissenting Opinion

RICHARD B. TEITELMAN, Judge.

I respectfully dissent. In In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970), the United States Supreme Court determined that the gradual transition of juvenile delinquency proceedings into a process that was tantamount to a traditional criminal proceeding warranted the application of criminal due process safeguards in juvenile courts. Id. at 365-366, 90 S.Ct. 1068. The same transition that occurred in juvenile delinquency proceedings now has occurred in Missouri’s SVP law. Regardless of the state’s characterization of the SVP law…