NCJ Number
134593
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1992) Pages: 61-74
Date Published
1992
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Viewing the civil commitment process from a systems perspective, this article focuses on the systems in which individual actors participate and the ways in which systemic interests may affect the commitment process.
Abstract
To ameliorate the problematic consequences of bringing the mental health system and the justice system together for a common purpose, the option of developing a single system to assume responsibility for civil commitment is proposed. One possibility for such a system is a functionally independent civil commitment system that assumes all the responsibilities now assigned to the mental health and justice systems. The clinicians employed by this system and extensively trained for the task would perform the initial evaluations and make the emergency commitment decisions. Hearing officers, who have received specialized training in the clinical and legal aspects of mental disorder and who may or may not be judges would run the hearings. The primary loyalties of all parties would be to the implementation of the civil commitment statute. Potential gains and losses associated with the development of a single system are considered along with the potential utility of this option in other areas of law and mental health interaction. 46 references