Allen Crispin is an incarcerated sex offender who experts predict will strike again.

Despite years of intensive treatment, experts say Crispin's fantasies have grown dangerously more intense and more violent.

Crispin, 20, now has a vision of himself murdering a woman by hanging her, all the while raping her, according to court testimony.

And, the experts say, Crispin has a mental defect that makes it unlikely he would control himself if he were let loose in public.

Yet Crispin is about to turn 21. And, under state laws, the juvenile courts have no jurisdiction over an adult.

That means Crispin, who is in residential treatment only because he was convicted as a juvenile of sexually assaulting two boys, should walk free on Jan. 14, 2005.

With only months left until Crispin's birthday, Butler County officials have made his case a test case for a new law.

Act 21 could send Crispin straight from the juvenile treatment program to an adult program at Torrance State Mental Hospital. Yet Crispin's attorney, Armand Cingolani, is fighting the move, arguing Crispin already has served the time ordered for the crimes he committed.

"You can't incarcerate a person for a crime he did not commit," Cingolani said. "He is effectively getting an indeterminate sentence."

In part, Cingolani is arguing that sexual fantasies, including violent ones, are not unique in our society - let alone unique to a young man. And Cingolani argues we, as a society, should not punish people for what they think about.

However, Cingolani is not suggesting Crispin, who has a low IQ, leave supervision. Instead, Cingolani said Crispin wants to enter the treatment program of his choice. That is at Valley Community Services, a home for troubled youths in Allegheny County, which has treated Crispin in the past.

"No one wants him walking the streets homeless and helpless," Cingolani said. "But Torrance is an institution. At Valley Community, Allen would be able to have a job, build a life and be rehabilitated … These people at Community Valley Services know him, and they care about him."

Representatives at Valley Community did not return a telephone message.

But Act 21 makes no such exceptions.

Everyone found to be in need of further treatment goes to the program at Torrance, which was created as part of the law and is designated in the law.

The program there is specifically designed to meet the needs of juvenile sexual offenders who turn 21 and are likely to offend again, said Keith Snyder deputy director of the Juvenile Court Justice Commission.

Act 21 was premised on a case in Lebanon County. There, a young male sex offender boldly told a judge that he would offend again … and there was nothing the judge could do about it.The judge's legal hands were tied to laws freeing the man, Snyder said.In only a few cases historically, juvenile court officials were able to trigger the mental health procedures act to have a juvenile sex offender involuntarily committed to an adult program before release, Snyder said.Snyder did not know if any of those cases were in Butler County, and Butler County Mental Health director Joyce Ainsworth could not be reached for comment.Act 21 became effective Feb. 10, and Crispin's case is only the second in the state to make it to court, Snyder said.The defendant in the first case, a man in Lackawana County, was sent to Torrance on his 21st birthday.Crispin's future will be decided by Butler County President Judge Thomas Doerr. As standard procedure, judges do not talk about cases pending before them.Once testimony is finished, Doerr will have five days to decide if Crispin goes to Torrance or is free to choose his future.If Doerr picks Torrance, Crispin will return to Doerr's courtroom every year to determine if he needs further treatment.Most officials interviewed for this report agree Act 21 is likely to face a share of appeals before it becomes widely used."(The Act 21 cases) involve potentially dangerous individuals," Snyder said. "Act 21 gives the courts a mechanism to deal with them."

William Sarbo, of the Youth Development Center in New Castle explained that much like an alcoholic, a sex offender cannot be cured.Rather, treatment programs strive to teach offenders mechanisms they can use to avoid acting on their fantasies or impulses.To date, Sarbo, who was the second of two witnesses to already testify in Crispin's case, said Crispin has used none of the alternative behaviors he has been taught while detained at YDC or the other treatment programs he has been enrolled in."His paraphilia is … for whatever reason … intensifying," testified the other witness in Crispin's case, Dr. William Allenbaugh, a member of the state's Sexual Offender Assessment Board.In layman's terms, Allenbaugh said, Crispin's disorder, paraphilia, makes him obsessed with his rape fantasies, which are "deviant to the point where he is actually killing someone."And, Allenbaugh testified, Crispin's disorder is so powerful that he would have trouble controlling his sexually violent behavior."He's a high risk to offend again," Allenbaugh said.Although juvenile court records are not open to the public, testimony indicated Crispin was found guilty of sexually assaulting two boys for a lengthy period of time.At least twice since entering treatment programs, Crispin has made inappropriate contact withfemale staff members, according to testimony.He's been thrown out of one program for reasons that were not stated in court.In his current program at the YDC, Crispin has been disciplined for threatening staff and juveniles participants and attempting to obtain pornography.More information about Crispin's background, and his involvement in treatment programs is expected when testimony continues.No one in Crispin's family has yet publicly commented.Crispin's mother attended the hearing and appeared to be supportive.According to court testimony, she has been a regular visitor to her son's treatment facility.