4440 Department of State Hospitals
Program Descriptions

25 - EVALUATION AND FORENSIC SERVICES

Evaluation and Forensic Services is comprised of the Mentally Disordered Offender (MDO) and the Sexual Offender Commitment Program (SOCP). The MDO program applies only to prisoners whose crimes were committed on or after January 1, 1986. Penal Code Sections 2960-2981 require that a prisoner who meets six specific MDO criteria be ordered by the Board of Prison Terms to be treated by the DSH as a condition of parole. Welfare and Institutions Code Section 6600 et seq. (Chapter 793, Statutes of 1995) was enacted effective January 1, 1996, establishing a new category of civil commitment for persons found, upon release from prison, to be sexually violent predators. The DSH has designated this program the SOCP.