Criminal Law Standards in Civil Commitment

Abstract

The history of the hospitalization of persons with mental disorders has progressed in distinct stages over the course of the past two centuries. From Philippe Pinel's introduction of moral treatment principles, through the advent of professional psychiatry as a result of Sigmund Freud's innovations, through the move toward deinstitutionalization enabled by the discovery of new psychiatric medications, the groundwork was laid for the fourth and most recent of what can be seen as “revolutions” in institutional mental health care: the focus of both law and medicine on the parameters of the state's commitment power. This article addresses the function of the criminal procedure model in the context of civil commitment, its practical effects, and opportunities for continued reform.