Sex offender laws and other forms of preventive detention designed to protect the public from dangerous individuals have been criticized because of their subjectivity. The authors propose legislation that would ensure against abuse of the laws by the following means: strict definitional criteria of the dangerous sex offender in terms of predictability, requirement of proof of dangerousness, and time-limited commitments. They feel that implementation of this kind of law will restrict those incarcerated to the truly dangerous offenders and will help avoid overinclusive commitments.Abstract Teaser