title: Are pretrial commitments for forensic evaluation used to control nuisance behavior?
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester 01655.
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Appelbaum
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nestelbaum
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Batemen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D005104:Expert Testimony / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D008875:Middle Aged; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012919:Social Behavior; D012926:Social Control, Formal