Commentary: civil commitment statutes--40 years of circumvention.
There is a longstanding body of literature that describes how states' civil commitment statutes have been stretched or circumvented to accommodate institutional and systemic needs. The paper by Levitt and colleagues provides yet another example of this phenomenon: Arizona's use of its civil commitment statutes to detain unrestorable, incompetent criminal defendants for whom other provisions have not been developed. This commentary provides a brief overview of other examples of the stretching of commitment laws, providing a broader context for viewing the findings of Levitt and colleagues.
Fisher
William H
WH
University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655, USA. bill.fisher@umassmed.edu
Grisso
Thomas
T
D001130:Arizona; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000266:history* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D035521:Supreme Court Decisions; D014481:United States