9.7 Chapter Summary
- Several forms of commitment, or court-ordered involuntary mental health treatment, exist to serve various purposes in or adjacent to the criminal justice system.
- Civil commitment provides a non-criminal process for a court to order a person to receive treatment for a mental disorder, including possible confinement to a treatment facility.
- Civil commitment requires a complex set of processes with multiple layers of review to ensure that a person’s rights are not violated. A person cannot be committed simply because they experience a mental disorder; rather, there must be clear and convincing evidence that they pose a danger due to a mental disorder.
- Several forms of commitment relate directly to criminal proceedings. These include commitment for competency restoration and commitment to a hospital or other facility for treatment upon a successful assertion of the insanity defense.
- Another criminal system commitment specific to Oregon is the Extremely Dangerous and Resistant to Treatment commitment for people who have remained unable to aid and assist in their own defense for an extended period and have a low likelihood of gaining competence in the short term.
- Some states, including Washington, have provisions in law that allow for the post-conviction commitment of sex offenders who remain dangerous to the community even after serving a sentence on the underlying offense.
Key Term Definitions
- Beyond a reasonable doubt: The legal standard of proof in criminal cases. Proof at this level includes overwhelming evidence that leaves no significant doubt in the minds of decision-makers.
- Burden of proof: The amount or level of evidence required to prevail in a particular legal case. The burden of proof in a criminal case is “beyond a reasonable doubt,” and in most civil cases it is “by a preponderance of the evidence.”
- Civil commitment: A court order requiring involuntary treatment, and sometimes confinement, for a person who has become unsafe due to a mental disorder.
- Clear and convincing evidence: A legal standard of proof that is more demanding than the “preponderance of the evidence” standard, but less stringent than proof “beyond a reasonable doubt.” This standard is used in civil commitment cases, in which serious liberty interests are at stake.
- Commitment hearing: A hearing during which a judge or hearings officer considers the evidence and decides whether it is sufficient to support a civil commitment.
- Conditional release: Release of a person from an institutional setting (like a prison or hospital) into the community, often in a group setting, with requirements to abide by a set of rules and safeguards. If those conditions of release are violated, the person may be returned to confinement.
- Criminal commitment: Term used to describe commitments (involuntary treatment and/or confinement) by operation of law in the context of a criminal case. A commitment is not a conviction or a punishment.
- Emergency hold (hospital hold or hold): A process allowing a designated professional to order that a person be kept under supervision so their mental health can be assessed and stabilized. A hold can be a first step in involuntary commitment proceedings.
- Grave disability: Legal term meaning that a person is unable to provide for their basic needs and is subject to immediate harm. Grave disability can be a basis for civil commitment in some states.
- Imminent danger: A threat of harm that is immediate rather than in the future.
- Notice of Mental Illness (NMI): In Oregon, the paperwork that triggers a court’s involvement in a civil commitment. Each state, as well as the federal system, has developed its own procedures for initiating and completing civil commitments.
- Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board (PSRB): In Oregon, a multidisciplinary oversight board charged with ensuring community safety with respect to state Guilty Except for Insanity (GEI) patients. Each jurisdiction that allows the insanity defense has its own method of overseeing this population.
- Pre-commitment investigation: A fact-finding process to determine what, if any, mental disorder a person is experiencing and how that mental disorder is currently impacting the person facing commitment.
- Preponderance of the evidence: The legal standard of proof in civil cases. Evidence at this level makes something more likely than not to be true and may be characterized as “just enough” to tip the scales, or 51%.
- Section 1983: A common name for the federal law 42 U.S.C. § 1983, originally enacted in 1871 and known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. Section 1983 allows individuals to bring lawsuits in federal court to address violations of their federal civil rights by state officials.
Discussion Questions
- How is a civil commitment under modern statutes different from the routine institutionalization of people with mental disorders that occurred up through the mid to late 1900s?
- Explain the “imminent danger” standard that is often required for civil commitment. Why does this standard exist? Should this be the requirement, or would you choose a different standard for civil commitment?
- Why is a person who asserts the insanity defense subject to a criminal commitment? How does such a commitment fulfill the goals of the criminal justice system? How might it not fulfill those goals?
- What is the basis for the post-prison commitment of sex offenders in states like Washington? What are the pros and cons of this type of commitment? Would you prefer to see restriction or expansion of these commitments?
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Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Summary
“Chapter Summary” by Anne Nichol is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
