Is the Need for Treatment Constitutionally Acceptable as a Basis for Civil Commitment?

Abstract

A number of indications suggest that we may be on the verge of another massive shift in the orientation of our system for the civil commitment of the mentally ill. After nearly one and one-half centuries during which commitment criteria were based on the mentally ill person's need for care and treatment, the late 1960s and 1970s saw a rejection of this standard in favor of criteria based solely on the individual's dangerousness to self or others. Now, in the 1980s, we are witnessing an outcry against dangerousness-oriented standards and the beginnings of a return to a need-for-treatment model.