Involuntary commitment
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This artcle deals with the situation in the USA. Other countries also have laws governing Involuntary commitment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Involuntary_commitment--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Involuntary commitment is the practice of using legal means or forms to commit a person to a mental hospital, insane asylum or psychiatric ward against the will or over the protests of that person. In the United States, involuntary commitment is governed by state law and procedures vary from state to state, under laws often called mental hygiene laws. Involuntary commitment is typically used against people diagnosed with, or alleged to have, a mental illness, particularly schizophrenia.
An example of involuntary commitment procedures is the Baker Act used by the state of Florida. Under this law, a person may be committed only if he or she presents a danger to himself or others. A police officer may issue an emergency commitment order which lasts for up to 72 hours. Within this time, a person must appear before a judge who can extend the commitment. The Baker Act also requires that all commitment orders be reviewed every six months in addition to insuring certain rights to the committed including the right to contact outsiders. Also, a person under an involuntary commitment order has a right to counsel and a right to have the state provide a public defender if they cannot afford a private lawyer.
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In the 1960s, there was a movement toward deinstitutionalization of mental patients from mental hospitals into community care centers, and this was matched with efforts at reform of involuntary commitment laws. (From the 1970s onwards a relatively small number of ex-mental patients and former "consumers of psychiatric services" have promoted what they call "mad liberation," often calling for the abolition of involuntary commitment.) The flaw in how the theory of deinstitutionalization was put into practice was that community care facilities were in general not well-funded; those who described themselves as "advocates for the mentally ill" complained that deinstitutionalized former inmates of mental hospitals often ended up homeless. In the 1980s, there was a return back to institutionalization and less strict commitment laws.
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Involuntary commitment is distinguished from conservatorship, was used by deprogrammers as a legal means to hold alleged cult victims against their will while talking them out of their faith. In hundreds of cases documented by attorney Jeremiah Gutman, deprogrammers were able to obtain conservatorship orders without having to bring the subject of the order before a judge.
See also: