WILLIAM BRANGHAM:

The "PBS NewsHour" was granted rare access to Minnesota's sex offender program. We could film interviews inside this one room, but, almost everywhere else, we could only take still photos. Most everyone agrees that there are people locked up in Minnesota's program who are very likely to reoffend. These are people who say they simply cannot control their behavior.

And that concern is why legislatures in 20 states have set up programs like this to hold these people. But others say these programs also end up snaring juvenile offenders who they argue have no business being held for years past their sentences.

ERIC JANUS, Mitchell Hamline School of Law: It's outrageous. That's one of the more outrageous features of this program.