Maid retracts rape claims [... under pressure?]

Srey Sophal, the mother of a woman allegedly held in Malaysia, speaks to reporters yesterday in Phnom Penh to say she ‘misunderstood’. (Photo by: Hong Menea)

Thursday, 07 April 2011
Mary Kozlovski and Sen David
Phnom Penh Post

A maid working in Malaysia has retracted claims made through her mother this week that she was raped twice by a member of her employer’s family, as an agreement that will allow her to come home was brokered.

At a press conference held yesterday at National Police headquarters in Phnom Penh, a letter was released in which the woman apologised to both her employer and recruitment agency Champa Manpower Group Ltd stating that she “was not raped” and her mother had “misunderstood”.

The letter, dated April 5, was signed by a representative of the Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia.

He’s 56, he had sex with a teen, he lied and tried to set up the victim’s father … and, oh, he’s the pagoda chief

Scandal at Kampong Chhnang’s Wat Preah Ream Raingsey Pagoda

Monday 02 August 2010
By K.K.
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Jean Oss Srok
Click here to read the article in French

A monk was defrocked for having sexual relationships with a minor. Pregnant, the young teen had to have an abortion during her 7th month pregnancy.

Since 2009, 56-year-old Chan Tuon, Kampong Chhnang’s Wat Preah Ream Raingsey Pagoda chief, had an affair with a 16-year-old girl. It was fine until she became seven month pregnant and decided to tell the whole affair to her mother.

The case took a new turn when both mother and daughter demanded that Chan Tuon pay for her abortion. The monk then gave them 900,000 riels (~$225), but he denied all responsibility in the affair. The monk went on to claim that the pregnancy was caused by the teen’s own father.

The claim was not accepted by Sao Pheareak, the children’s rights investigator for Licadho in Kampong Chhnang. “In May, our headquarters received a letter allegedly from the victim. She accused her father of raping her and she asked him to have an abortion. Following the investigation and expertise from the department of fight against traffic and protection of minors, it turned out the monk was the real culprit.”

Nevertheless, even with all the proofs available, the victim’s family decided not to complaint about the case, arguing that the monk would financially provide for their needs. Thus, the case cannot be taken to court. “Immediately after the investigation, the teenager insisted that the monk write a letter to her father to make him confess to the crime,” Sao Pheareak indicated. “In fact, she was too sacred that her father would send her to work in Thailand and that she would be separated from a man whom she claimed she love.” To date, the monk is still charged by the department for the protection of minors.

CAMBODIA: Rape Victims Need Better Protection from New Penal Code

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Mar 9, 2010 (IPS) - Cambodia’s new penal code, which comes into force later this year, should be accompanied by stronger law enforcement measures if the country’s women and girls are to be better protected from rape, says the global rights lobby Amnesty International (AI).

"The introduction of the new penal code is an ideal opportunity to change the culture and improve the criminal justice system," revealed Brittis Edman, Cambodia researcher for AI. "The problem has always been law enforcement rather than the law itself."

"Rape has to be seen as a criminal issue," she added during a telephone interview from Phnom Penh.

The new law will replace the 1992 law introduced by the United Nations after the country returned to peace following over two decades of brutal conflict, including the Khmer Rouge genocide in the 1970s that was responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people and destruction of the South-east Asian country’s social structures.

Amnesty International’s call for the Cambodian government to address "extrajudicial settlements, weak prosecution and widespread corruption in cases of sexual violence" comes with the London-based body’s launch this week of a report about "rapes of women and girls appear to be increasing."

"From November 2008 to November 2009, police had recorded 468 cases of rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment, a 2.4 percent increase over the previous year," revealed the 60-page report launched Monday in the Cambodian capital. "Data of cases reported to both police and NGOs (non-governmental organisation) indicate that an increasing number of victims are children."

"In 2009, 78 percent of rape victims turning to (a) human rights (NGO) were children, compared to 67 percent in 2008," noted the report, ‘Breaking the Silence – Sexual Violence in Cambodia’. "It is not known if this increase accurately reflects the real situation, or the fact that rape of under-18s is more likely to be reported."

Vanna was among the 30 victims Amnesty researchers interviewed. In 2009, the 15-year-old was raped by a fellow villager. "Her parents reported the crime to the police, who arrested the man," added the report. "However, after court officials and police had negotiated an extrajudicial settlement whereby the perpetrator paid money to the family, he was released."

Her freedom meant that Vanna had to take refuge in a shelter for victims. "I don’t dare to go home. The perpetrator was released because he paid a bribe and that’s not right," she was quoted as having told AI.

Mom was another victim. Two men raped her five times in 2005, when she was 11 years old. "Her mother went to the district police, where the police chief asked her for a 10 U.S.-dollar bribe to pay for ‘the investigation and stationery’," reported AI. "When she did not have the money he requested, the police chief asked her to meet him at a hotel room, suggesting that sex in lieu of money would facilitate the investigation of the rape of the daughter."

"Police initially didn’t help us at all. They are very hard to trust, and you really need NGO assistance to get proper police assistance," the victim’s mother told AI. "We were afraid to turn to the police: we know they harass, intimidate and torture people and extort weak and poor families."

Rape in Cambodia exposes a darker side of the country where "society is still matriarchal, culturally speaking," remarked Chea Vannath, former president of the Centre for Social Development, a Phnom Penh-based think tank. "In majority of families, women are the bosses."

But sexual violence is driven by specific factors, she said during an IPS interview. "Drinking alcohol, pornography, which is widespread, drugs and even poverty are responsible for the violence against women."

Victims from poor families are often unable to get justice, she added, echoing a view maintained by AI, which stated, "Protection of the rights of rape victims in poverty is particularly weak. As the Cambodian justice system displays a bias against the poor, poor women and girls appear to have disproportionately limited access to justice."

AI’s push for stronger laws and enforcement to protect women in Cambodia is also echoed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a region-wide assessment to mark International Women’s Day, celebrated on Mar. 8. "While Asia and the Pacific can take pride in the region’s vibrant economic transformation in recent decades, this has not translated into progress on gender equality," the U.N. agency’s assessment said.

"In South Asia, almost half the countries have no laws at all on domestic violence. In the Pacific the picture is even worse, with more than 60 percent of the countries without domestic violence legislation," said Cherie Hart, UNDP’s regional communications advisor.

"In East Asia, the situation is better with more than three-quarters of the countries with drafted legislation on domestic abuse," she explained. "Some of the countries which have drafted legislation within the past few years include Indonesia, Laos, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Vietnam."

"However, the Asia and Pacific region as a whole falls far behind where it should be on basic issues like protecting women from violence or upholding entitlements to property," she added. "One barrier is from the laws themselves, which may be discriminatory. A second barrier is restricted access to the legal system."

AI Finds Reported Rapes on the Rise

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
08 March 2010

The number of reported rapes in Cambodia is on the rise, Amnesty International reported Monday, calling on the government to act against the impunity and discrimination that lead to sexual assault.

Victims of a rape face “failures in the criminal justice system” along with “psychological pain and a perceived loss of dignity” when perpetrators are allowed to go free, Donna Guest, Amnesty International’s deputy Asia program director, told reporters on International Women’s Day.

“Dozens of survivors told us that they face extortion, ignorance and disbelief from officials whose job it should be to assist them and protect their rights,” Guest said in a statement. “For too many survivors of rape, the pursuit of justice and medical support adds further distress to the initial abuse.”

Amnesty International, which issued a 60-page report on sexual violence in Cambodia on Monday, called on the government to publicly condemn sexual violence, to improve its for investigation and punishment of the crime and to provide proper reparations, “including health and psychological services,” to the victims.

“Sexual violence in Cambodia is a difficult case because the suspect does not face the law,” said Kek Galbru, president of the rights group Licadho. “If we want to reduce the sexual violence coming down, the Cambodian government should cooperate with NGOs and all national authorities to find the solution on how to prevent suspects from escaping the law.”

Sy Define, secretary of state for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, said the government had not identified an increase in sexual violence.

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs had taken steps to train justice officials and police “to understand what to do when they are facing the problem of sexual violence,” she said.

Rape risk rises in Cambodia, says Amnesty International

Most Cambodians live with a weak justice system and few rights

Monday, March 08, 2010
By Guy DeLauney
BBC News, Cambodia

Human rights organisations in Cambodia have called for the government to tackle the rising incidence of rape.

A report by Amnesty International says victims have limited access to justice, medical services and counselling.

It claims that rape cases are often settled by cash payments to the victim - or bribes to the authorities.

Official statistics show a significant increase of the number of rapes reported to police last year - almost a quarter more than in 2008.

But Amnesty says the true figure may be much higher - because many victims never tell the authorities about their attacks.

Commander's block

Its report highlights a lack of faith in law enforcement officials and the judicial process.

One incident cited involved a policeman accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a karaoke bar.

His commanding officer refused to press charges - and insisted the attack could not be considered rape, as the woman had not been a virgin.

The government has acknowledged that sexual violence is a problem.

In a speech last week, the minister of women's affairs said there were increasing fears of gang rape.

She suggested that increasing access to alcohol, drugs and pornography was responsible.

Social workers say that a change in attitude towards victims of sexual violence is sorely needed.

Sun Maly runs a women's safe house in Battambang province.

"When they become victims of rape like this they become stigmatised by their own community. Especially in the case of children - when they've been sexually assaulted they drop out of school because of discrimination or embarrassment," she said.

Amnesty says that that many cases are currently settled by cash payments - or not pursued because the victim cannot afford to pay police and court officials.

It is calling on the authorities to make sure that those who commit rape or sexual violence are punished through the judicial process.

Rape of women increasing in Cambodia: Amnesty

Monday, March 08, 2010
AFP

PHNOM PENH — Rape of women and girls appears to be increasing in Cambodia and victims face stigma and get little justice, rights group Amnesty International said in a report to mark International Women's Day.

The report, released Monday, said there was a lack of comprehensive statistics on sexual violence in the country, but people who worked with victims believed rape was increasing and "a growing number of victims are children."

"A growing number of rape reports, including against very young girls and gang rapes, fill Cambodian newspapers," the report said.

"Most police, NGO (non-governmental organisation) workers and public officials working with the issue agree that rape is on the increase."

The report said corruption and discrimination within the police and courts often prevented rape survivors from seeking justice and medical treatment, while the perpetrators mostly went unpunished.

"Dozens of survivors told us that they face extortion, ignorance and disbelief from officials whose job it should be to assist them and protect their rights," said Amnesty International's Donna Guest in a statement.

"For too many survivors of rape, the pursuit of justice and medical support adds further distress to the initial abuse," she added.

A woman named Meas Veasna, who chose to speak out about her ordeal for the report, said authorities did little after she was drugged and raped by a Buddhist monk at a pagoda last year.

"I am feeling a lot of shame, and initially wanted to commit suicide because of what had happened. And although I reported the crime, no one has been brought to justice," she said in the report.

Amnesty interviewed 30 females aged between 10 and 40 from across Cambodia and said most were too poor to afford medical treatment or pay the bribes demanded by police for them to take action.

Poor women and girls were especially vulnerable to sexual violence because they lacked power to defend themselves before and after an assault, Amnesty said.

Cambodia's government must protect victims of sexual violence as reports of rape increase

8 March 2010
Source: Amnesty International

Survivors of rape in Cambodia face limited access to justice, medical services and counselling, Amnesty International said in a report issued on Monday, as rapes of women and girls appear to be increasing,

Breaking the silence: Sexual violence in Cambodia, issued to mark International Women's Day, exposes how corruption and discrimination within the police and courts prevent survivors of rape from receiving justice and required assistance, while most perpetrators go unpunished.

"Dozens of survivors told us that they face extortion, ignorance and disbelief from officials whose job it should be to assist them and protect their rights," said Donna Guest, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Deputy Director. "For too many survivors of rape, the pursuit of justice and medical support adds further distress to the initial abuse."

Amnesty International researchers found sex workers and women living in poverty faced serious obstacles in seeking justice and medical services. They were unable to pay bribes which were often required of them from the police and others, and could not afford legal or medical services.

The report includes 30 interviews with women and girls aged between 10 and 40. The family of a 19 year-old girl with a learning disability explained how police officers ignored their complaint when Mony was raped in late 2009.

"The police only work if you have money, if you can pay. With around 100,000 riels [approx US$25] perhaps we could have secured an arrest, but we don't have that," said her father.

He said that Mony lived in constant fear of the perpetrator, who remained at large. The family also struggled to afford the medicine she needed, and described transportation costs to court and police as very difficult.

Cambodian society, like many around the world, exhibits deeply engrained gender discrimination that stigmatizes survivors of sexual assaults, while perpetrators, who mostly remain at large, face limited, if any, sanction.

"With the lack of social support towards victims, it is crucial that the government breaks the silence and publicly condemns sexual violence, to show that it will not tolerate such serious crimes and to acknowledge the pain of the survivors," said Donna Guest.

With a new Penal Code entering into force in late 2010, Amnesty International has called on the Cambodian government to firmly address inadequate law enforcement, extra-judicial settlements, weak prosecution and widespread corruption in cases of suspected sexual violence.

Amnesty International has also urged the government to train and equip the police, utilise female police officers, and allocate necessary budgets so that they can investigate allegations of crimes promptly, professionally and sensitively.

Data provided by police and NGOs indicates that incidents of rape are increasing in Cambodia, but the extent of the increase is hidden by a lack of monitoring and limited reporting and coordination of statistics.

Authorities should accurately obtain such information and use it to inform policy and plans of action.

"Cambodia has made important inroads into tackling gender-discrimination, with a focus on domestic violence and human trafficking," Donna Guest said. "It is time the government incorporated sexual violence against women into these categories to address its failure to meet the human rights obligations under the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women."

The 60-page report presents extensive research and recommendations to reverse increasing sexual violence against women. The analysis was released as part of Amnesty International's global campaign to Stop Violence against Women.

Read more:
Rape victims worldwide denied justice and dignity (News, 8 March 2010)

Amnesty International: Cambodia Must Act Against Rapes, Sex Crimes

07 March 2010
Robert Carmichael, VOA
Phnom Penh

Amnesty International says rape and sexual crimes committed mainly against women and children has become a growing problem in Cambodia.

To mark the 100th International Women's Day, the human-rights group Amnesty International is releasing a report on the scourge of rape and sexual violence in Cambodia.

Amnesty's report, called Breaking the Silence, criticizes what it says is a culture of impunity, corruption and indifference to victims of sexual violence. The result is justice denied for Cambodian women, and increasingly for Cambodian girls.

During its research, Amnesty interviewed 30 victims of rape, as well as 50 non-government aid workers, police and government officials, and even a number of perpetrators. Brittis Edman, who wrote the report, explains its focus.

"What we specifically looked at is the aftermath of rape, what are the obstacles that victims face when they seek justice and when they seek access to services," said Edman.

Amnesty found that victims seeking help ran into several problems that made their situation even worse.

"Police often do not take them seriously, they do not necessarily investigate," added Edman. "They ask for bribes to launch an investigation. Court officials typically ask for bribes at all levels of the process."

Edman says medical specialists generally do not provide much in the way of free treatment, meaning victims need to pay money, which they often do not have, if they want help.

There are only a few places in Cambodia where victims can go for help. One of those is called Banteay Srei, which is based in Battambang province in western Cambodia.

Banteay Srei provides a safe house, counsels victims, and connects them with non-government organizations that provide legal services and health services.

Sun Maly is Banteay Srei's team leader. She says demand for its services has increased dramatically since it was set up five years ago.

Last year Banteay Srei helped 71 victims of rape, which was almost twice the number it helped the previous year. Sun Maly says part of the reason for the rise is that more women and local officials are aware of Banteay Srei's existence.

But, she says, the problem of rape and sexual violence against women is getting worse. And that is not due to a lack of sufficient laws.

"Cambodia has good laws, but they are not enforced and the perpetrators are not punished," said Sun Maly. "And that provides a model for other people to follow suit."

Sun Maly says most rape victims helped last year by Banteay Srei were girls.

"The number of rape victims we helped was 71, and most were underage," she added. "The majority, around 80 percent, were just 12 or 13 years old."

Amnesty's Edman says half of the rape victims she interviewed for the report were children.

And she stresses that she did not set out to interview child victims. Instead, the high proportion simply reflects the large numbers of children, mainly girls, who are victims of rape and who were being helped by the non-government organizations that coordinated interviews.

Why does Edman think so many children are becoming victims of rape?

"Children are clearly more vulnerable in many ways," Edman explained. "What we have seen in the research is that those who live in poverty are more vulnerable, we have seen that sex workers are more vulnerable, and it appears also that children are more vulnerable."

In its report, Amnesty outlined five pages of recommendations for the government. Among those is wholesale reform of the way rape allegations are investigated and processed through the court system.

Amnesty says bribes demanded by police must cease, more female police officers should be recruited and trained, and courts should be more sympathetic to victims. The rights group also says the practice of paying compensation to victims in exchange for charges being dropped should cease.

But most importantly, says Edman, the government must vocally condemn rape. That would cost the government nothing, but would provide comfort to victims and let society know that the crime of rape would not be tolerated.

As one women, who was raped by a monk last year, told Amnesty of her unresolved case: "If he cannot be touched, and is not brought to account, he can do it again. This would make him arrogant and a terrible role model to the people."

Rape, abuse in Kingdom is reaching crisis level: minister

Thursday, 26 November 2009
Lily Partand
The Phnom Penh Post

Siem Reap - SEXUAL and domestic violence against women and girls has become a problem of pandemic proportions that is stalling development of the Kingdom, according to Minister for Women’s Affairs Ing Kantha Phavi.

She spoke on Wednesday at the opening session of the two-day Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Primary Prevention of Violence Against Women and Children: Focus on Urban Youth, which included 120 participants and speakers from countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Ing Kantha Phavi said that although the number of rapes and sexual assaults that get reported is increasing, the number of cases that go unreported is of even greater concern.

“In Cambodia, the reported rate of domestic and sexual violence is 22 percent. But due to our culture of silence and shame, and the widespread practice of victims accepting compensation instead of prosecuting their abusers, the actual rate of violence could be much higher. This risks jeopardising the recent development and progress of Cambodia,” she said.

First lady Bun Rany spoke of the importance of youth in tackling the issue in Cambodia, where 56 percent of the population is under the age of 25.

“If we can develop effective initiatives for youth, we will be able to reach young people while their attitudes towards gender equality, relationships and violence are still being formed. If we succeed, this could have a significant impact on reducing violence against women and children,” she said.

Facilitator Ellen Minotti, who has worked in the field in Cambodia for 17 years, said the conference would help identify best practices and find ways to evaluate the effectiveness of prevention programmes.

“One of the points made ... was that there’s been lots of work done on domestic violence and sexual violence, and the rate is not going down anywhere. So we need to look at new ways, but we also need to measure if they are working or not,” Minotti said.

Dr Jean D’Cunha, regional programme director for the UN Development Fund for Women in East and Southeast Asia, said it was important to involve men and boys in the campaign against sexual and domestic violence.

“We’ve done very little work with men and boys, but this is not just an issue for women and girls – it concerns the whole of our society. Men and boys need to be partners with women and girls against violence.”

The conference, which concludes today, was organised by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. The results will be used to shape recommendations for Cambodia’s National Action Plan to Prevent Violence against Women 2009-12.

Elderly Cambodian man dies at hooves of unaccommodating cow [- No action taken by police against cow acting in self defense]

Apr 19, 2007
DPA

Phnom Penh - An unsuccessful sexual advance by an elderly Cambodian man on a young heifer ended badly when the bovine fought back, kicking him to death, local media quoted police and villagers as saying Thursday.

Khmer-language daily Kampuchea Thmey quoted authorities as saying that Ta Sam, 67, of south-western Svay Rieng province had been divorced for just 10 days when his urges apparently overcame him in the middle of the night with tragic consequences.

Sounds of a scuffle caused the man's grandson to investigate, whereupon he found Sam's naked body lying under the family's frightened cow with injuries to his head and genital area consistent with being kicked by the beast, the paper reported.

Police concluded he died in a rape attempt gone wrong, the paper said.

The paper quoted villagers as saying Sam had been divorced twice, with both wives citing his insatiable desires as the cause.

It added that police did not expect to take any action against the cow, which was not named, as she appeared to have been acting in self defence.

Man gets 22 years in 1988 rape solved by DNA evidence

March 20, 2007
By Julie Manganis , Staff writer
Daily News of Newburyport (Mass., USA)

SALEM - A former North Shore man was sentenced to 22 years in prison yesterday for what a Salem Superior Court judge called "the most horrible rape" he's seen in 10 years on the bench - a random, violent attack in Rowley on a stranded teenage girl nearly 20 years ago.

John Ackerman, 49, was serving a prison term in Plymouth County for raping another teen when investigators linked him through DNA evidence to the long-unsolved 1988 rape.

His victim was a 17-year-old Lawrence girl who had escaped the killing fields of Cambodia just a few years earlier. Yesterday, she recalled how she was born "into a living hell" under the Khmer Rouge, survived imprisonment in a concentration camp and torture with hot coals, and somehow made it to the United States, where she believed Americans were the "kindest and gentlest people."

On the night of Nov. 8, 1988, she was driving from Lawrence to Newburyport to pick up her mother, who worked the second shift in a local factory. It was just before midnight when her family's Pontiac sedan broke down near the Whittier Bridge on Interstate 95 in Amesbury, prosecutor Gerald Shea said.

Ackerman, then 31, was driving along Interstate 95 from Maine to Salem, where he lived at the time, his young daughter in the back seat.

As the teen looked under the hood, Ackerman pulled over and stopped in front of her, Shea said.

He got out and walked over, then grabbed the petite girl - she was 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 95 pounds - by the hair and dragged her to his car.

They stopped briefly in Newburyport because his young daughter had to use the bathroom. But the victim could not escape - Ackerman had wrapped the strap from the girl's purse around her neck, telling her he would kill her, Shea said. Then he drove to Rowley, where, on a secluded dirt road, he dragged her from the car and beat her, punching her repeatedly and slamming her head into the ground.

"She believed she would die," Shea said.

Running for help

The next thing she remembers is hearing Ackerman's car starting and seeing it drive toward her, about to crush her head. She rolled out of the way and ran, bleeding and barefoot, to a nearby home for help.

Though she did not remember being raped, a medical test confirmed she had been. She spent three days in the hospital with a concussion, a perforated eardrum and other injuries.

Although she was able to give police a detailed description of her attacker - even recalling that he had white powder on his lip as though he had just used cocaine - the case went unsolved for years.

Then, in 2003, police in Florida were investigating a similar crime and had identified a possible suspect. They asked Rowley police whether there was still any biological evidence from the 1988 rape.

There was, and it was retested for DNA, Shea said. It did not match the DNA in the Florida case, but investigators discovered it did match the DNA of a man serving a prison term for a similar 1997 rape - Ackerman.

The victim, now in her 30s and living in Kansas, was shown a photo array that included a picture of Ackerman. Even 15 years later, she was able to identify him as her attacker.

Just one day before the statute of limitations was to expire, Ackerman was charged.

In court yesterday, the victim told Judge David Lowy how she spent her childhood under constant threat of death. All she had was her family and what they could carry on their backs. "Our entire existence was to escape," she recalled.

She was separated from her family and placed in a concentration camp but managed to escape. Eventually, her family crossed the border into Thailand.

American dreams

"The thought of living in America and beginning a new life was the ultimate dream for me," said the victim, who hoped to become a teacher. Finally, when she was 12, an American family sponsored her family to come to the United States.

With the love of two families, she straddled two cultures, entering an arranged marriage at 15 while still attending Lawrence High School.

Then, "John Ackerman destroyed my dignity, my future, and he also destroyed many of my dreams," she said in a victim-impact statement.

Her husband rejected her, "because I was no longer honorable and respectable in our Asian culture," she said.

She later remarried and was accompanied to court yesterday by her second husband but said she still lives daily with fear. "I feel like I am in prison," she told the judge.

Ackerman tearfully admitted yesterday that he simply wanted to reciprocate on other people the abuse he had suffered as a child.

"I was in pain. I wanted to inflict pain on other people," Ackerman said. "I seen her on the side of the road. I put her in my car. I beat her severely. I can't never change that."

But he said he wanted to accept responsibility.

"It's wrong," he said yesterday. "You ain't supposed to do that."

When he completes his prison term or is paroled, Ackerman could be subject to civil commitment as a sexually dangerous person and may face lifetime parole supervision.