NCJ Number
123716
Journal
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry Volume: 12 Issue: 2/3 Dated: (1989) Pages: 231-244
Date Published
1989
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the following broad issues having overarching relevance across a variety of national contexts and despite variations in legal and sociopolitical systems: the different ways in which the terms "mental illness" and "mental disorder" are defined and used in the mental health and legal fields, a framework for conceptualizing the law's concern with mental disorder, and problems that result when police power is combined with the parens patriae rationale involving the mental health system.
Abstract
The introductory section of the article lists and explains various categories of persons generally included under the description of "mentally disordered offenders." In discussing the confounding of police power and the parens patriae functions of the mental health system, the article indicates that a mental health disposition by the criminal justice system may result in more extended periods of coercive confinement than would be allowed had the person been convicted of the crime at issue. The author concludes that the coercive confinement of persons in a mental health facility by criminal justice decisionmakers should not extend beyond the period allowed for incarceration under the criminal law. 41 references.