Title
Are pretrial commitments for forensic evaluation used to control nuisance behavior
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Psychiatry
Publication Date
1992-06-01
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Adult; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Commitment of Mentally Ill; *Dangerous Behavior; Expert Testimony; Female; Forensic Psychiatry; Humans; Male; Massachusetts; Middle Aged; Referral and Consultation; Social Behavior; Social Control, Formal
Disciplines
Health Services Research | Mental and Social Health | Psychiatric and Mental Health | Psychiatry | Psychiatry and Psychology
Abstract
The shift to dangerousness-oriented civil commitment criteria has led to speculation that mentally ill persons who do not meet those criteria are being hospitalized under criminal commitment statutes. Using data on patients' psychiatric symptoms at admission to a state hospital in Massachusetts, the authors retrospectively assessed whether patients charged with minor criminal offenses who were committed for evaluation of competence to stand trial would have met civil commitment criteria. The data suggest that most mentally ill patients who were criminally committed could have been civilly committed. However, a relatively greater proportion of persons with substance abuse, mental retardation, or other conditions who did not meet civil commitment criteria for mental illness were committed for pretrial evaluation.
Source
Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1992 Jun;43(6):603-7.
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Hospital and community psychiatry
Related Resources
PubMed ID
1601403
Repository Citation
Appelbaum, Kenneth L.; Fisher, William H.; Nestelbaum, Zamir; and Bateman, Anne, "Are pretrial commitments for forensic evaluation used to control nuisance behavior" (1992). Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center Publications and Presentations. 264.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/psych_cmhsr/264
