Civil Commitment Theory

1
Civil Commitment Theory

• Sherrie Brown
• Dennis Lang
• LSJ 332/CHID 332
• Fall 2006

2
Legal Justification for Civil Commitment

• Parens Patriae
• Traditional role of state as sovereign and
  guardian of persons under legal disability.
• Used as justification for involuntary
  institutionalization of people with mental
  disabilities in mid-19th Century USA.
• Theory is that state has obligation to protect
  interests of those who cannot do so for
  themselvesrequires finding of incapacity.
• Typically used to commit people who are
  considered danger to themselves.

3
Continued

• Police Power
• Purpose is to protect society from potential
  harme.g., criminal laws and public health codes
• Justification for commitment of people with
  mental illness who are considered danger to
  others.
• Unlike criminal defendants, people facing police
  power commitments can be confined without proof
  that they violated criminal law.

4
Constitutional Theories to Challenge
Institutionalization

• 14th Amendment
• All persons born or naturalized in the United
  States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof
  are citizens of the United States and of the
  State wherein they reside. No State shall make
  or enforce any law which shall abridge the
  privileges or immunities of citizens of the
  United States nor shall any State deprive any
  person of life, liberty, or property, without due
  process of law nor deny to any person within its
  jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
• 8th Amendment
• Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
  excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
  punishments inflicted.

5
OConnor v. Donaldson (U.S. Supreme Court 1975)

• FACTS
• Mr. Donaldson civilly committed in 1957 and kept
  in custody for 15 years.
• His father initiated the commitment because his
  son suffering from delusions.
• Diagnosis was paranoid schizophrenia and
  commitment for care, maintenance and treatment.
  
• No evidence of danger to self or others and
  employed prior to commitment.
• ISSUE
• Was Donaldsons continued commitment a violation
  of his constitutional right to liberty?
• HOLDING
• Yes.
• REASONING/RATIONALE
• Involuntary commitment is deprivation of liberty
  which state cannot accomplish without due process
  of law.
• Must be justified on basis of legitimate state
  interest and confinement must cease when those
  reasons no longer exist.
• Basis of confinement violated very fundamentals
  of due process when no treatment was provided.