Disability Law

Lowering Standards for Involuntary Civil Commitment in Virginia

By Danielle

In further response to the Virginia Tech shootings. the state of Virginia is moving towards lowering the standards for involuntary civil commitment.

According to the Washington Post:

Under state law, people can be committed against their will only if they pose an “imminent danger to self or others.” The law does not define “imminent danger,” and the standard is applied differently by magistrates and special justices from county to county.

The proposal approved by lawmakers on the Courts of Justice Committee would allow a magistrate or special justice to commit someone to treatment if there is “a substantial likelihood” that the person would cause “serious physical harm to himself or herself” in the near future or could “suffer serious harm due to substantial deterioration.”

Alison Hymes over at Charlottesville Prejudice Watch mentioned that the social workers organization in Virginia supports Senate Bill 177, “an expanded program of outpatient commitment with loosened standards for who may be forced to participate in outpatient treatment by the state.”

She calls for social workers and psychiatrists to recognize that forced treatment doesn’t work, and to speak out for your patients by telling the State what you think, as a professional in the field. I’d like to pass that plea along.

The shootings were a tragedy, and if this is what comes of them, the tragedy will only be compounded.

Full post as published by Mental Disability Law Blog on January 31, 2008 (boomark / email).