Short-term civil commitment and the violent patient.
To explore the specificity of criteria for civil commitment for dangerousness, the authors examined the relationship between civil commitment for dangerousness to others under the California Civil Commitment Statute (the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act) and violent acts and behavioral ratings made immediately after commitment. Using a prospective design they evaluated 84 subjects. The ratings of violent acts for subjects considered dangerous to others were no different than those of a nondangerous control group. The subjects considered dangerous to others, however, differed on several subscales of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. The authors discuss the implications of these results for civil commitment proceedings.
D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006757:Hospital Units; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012149:Restraint, Physical; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013997:Time Factors; D014754:Violence