Mental Health Law
All but four states in the U.S. allow for some form of involuntary treatment for mental illness for short periods of time under emergency conditions, although criteria vary. Since the late 1990s, a growing number of states have adopted Assisted Outpatient Commitment (AOC) laws.
Under "assisted" outpatient commitment, people committed involuntarily can live outside the psychiatric hospital, sometimes under strict conditions including reporting to mandatory psychiatric appointments, taking psychiatric drugs in the presence of a nursing team, and proving medication blood levels. Forty-two states presently allow for outpatient commitment.
Read more about this topic: Involuntary Treatment
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—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
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—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)
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—George P. Fletcher, U.S. law educator. With Justice for Some, p. 6, Addison-Wesley (1995)