Involuntary Commitment - Purpose

Purpose

In most jurisdictions, involuntary commitment is specifically applied to individuals found to be suffering from a mental illness that impairs their reasoning ability to such an extent that the laws, state or courts find that decisions must or should be made for them under a legal framework. (In some jurisdictions this is a distinct proceeding from being "found incompetent.")

Involuntary commitment is used to some degree for each of the following headings although different jurisdictions have different criteria. Some jurisdictions limit court-ordered treatment to individuals who meet statutory criteria for presenting a danger "to self or others." Other jurisdictions have broader criteria.

Read more about this topic:  Involuntary Commitment

Famous quotes containing the word purpose:

    The purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now,
    was and is, to hold as ‘twere the mirror up to nature: to show
    virtue her feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and
    body of the time his form and pressure.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    And the purpose of the many stops and starts will be made clear:
    Backing into the old affair of not wanting to grow
    Into the night, which becomes a house, a parting of the ways
    Taking us far into sleep. A dumb love.
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)

    I want that glib and oily art
    To speak and purpose not, since what I well intend,
    I’ll do’t before I speak.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)