Professor Janus’ scholarly focus has been on the interaction of law with psychiatry and other health sciences. Building on his experience as court-appointed counsel in extended constitutional litigation challenging Minnesota’s Sexually Dangerous Person Law, he has focused on the boundaries of the state’s ability to use civil commitment to protect public safety. He is interested in the effectiveness of risk assessment, the place of danger assessment in society, and the public policy implications of the current approach to dealing with sexual violence. He has examined other coercive interventions for the protection of society such as quarantine and terrorism-related preventive confinement. He has studied the impact on prevention of international human rights law. His latest book is Failure to Protect: America’s Sexual Predator Laws and the Rise of the Preventive State.