title: Length of hospitalization and outcome of commitment and recommitment hearings.
abstract: Despite extensive legislative reformulation of civil commitment procedures, empirical studies have shown that civil commitment hearings continue to be largely nonadversarial. The authors observed all civil commitment hearings during a three-month period at a large state hospital in Virginia and examined the characteristics of patients and the actions of attorneys, clinical examiners, and judges as a function of the length of time the patient had been in the hospital. The analysis revealed that as the length of a patient's hospitalization increased, the hearings became shorter and less adversarial; patients tended to show fewer signs of acute psychiatric illness and more signs of chronic schizophrenia. The implications of these findings for civil commitment policy are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Research Program, Center for Epidemiological Research, Capetown, Southern Africa.
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Parry
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Turkheimer
mesh_terms: D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003155:Community Mental Health Centers / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D033222:Judicial Role; D007603:Jurisprudence; D033241:Lawyers; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D010359:Patient Readmission; D014768:Virginia