Victims “are still coming forward,” said Mitchell Garabedian, the lawyer who was portrayed by Stanley Tucci in “Spotlight” and who has represented many of the victims in lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Boston.

“It’s endless,” Mr. Garabedian said of the scandal. “Because of movies such as ‘Spotlight,’ because of Shanley being released, victims become empowered and are coming forward, whether you’re talking about Boston or around the world.” He said he represented victims from 15 countries.

Since 1950, the Catholic Church in the United States has spent an estimated $4 billion to settle cases stemming from allegations involving sexually abusive priests, according to The National Catholic Reporter. Most of the money has gone to settlements with victims, legal fees, support for offenders and therapy for victims.

After Mr. Shanley was convicted, prosecutors from the Middlesex County district attorney’s office asked the court to send him to prison for the rest of his life. Now that Mr. Shanley is about to be released, victims and their advocates want him to be held indefinitely under a Massachusetts law that allows the state to keep inmates in custody even after their sentences are completed. But the state must prove that Mr. Shanley is incapable of controlling any sexually dangerous impulses.

Marian T. Ryan, the current Middlesex district attorney, said in a statement that her office hired two psychiatric experts to evaluate Mr. Shanley. She said those doctors concluded he did not meet the legal criteria of a sexually dangerous person and so he would have to be released.

Mr. Shanley’s next address, which will almost certainly be in Massachusetts, has not been publicly released. He is to begin 10 years of supervised probation, but will not wear an electronic monitor. He is barred from having contact with children younger than 16.

His lawyer could not be reached for comment but told The Associated Press that he had “served his time.”