On January 22, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the power of States to impose preventive detention sentences on dangerous sex offenders after they complete their original prison sentences. Preventive detention is designed to prevent recidivist sex offenders from committing additional offenses. The decision is a victory for WLF, which had filed a brief asking the Court to overturn a Kansas Supreme Court decision that had made it virtually impossible for states to detain sex offenders, even those suffering from severe mental abnormalities.