NO EXIT

A Legal Limbo 

Across the United States, individuals are held in civil commitment long after they have completed their criminal sentences, often with no clear path to release. What is framed as treatment functions, in practice, as indefinite confinement.

This symposium brings together scholars, lawyers, journalists, advocates, and individuals with lived experience to examine civil commitment systems in the United States, with a focus on New Jersey’s Special Treatment Unit.

Through interdisciplinary discussion, the conference challenges assumptions about risk, treatment, and recidivism, while exposing the realities of indefinite confinement.

Our goal is to raise awareness, center lived experiences, and begin building a path toward accountability and reform.