Editing Involuntary commitment (section)

==Around the world==
{{main|Involuntary commitment by country}}

===France===
In 1838, France enacted a law to regulate both the admissions into asylums and asylum services across the country. [[Édouard Séguin]] developed a systematic approach for training individuals with mental deficiencies,<ref>{{cite book|last1=King|first1=D. Brett|last2=Viney|first2=Wayne|last3=Woody|first3=William Douglas|title=A History of Psychology: Ideas and Context|date=2007|publisher=Allyn & Bacon|isbn=9780205512133|page=214|edition=4}}</ref> and, in 1839, he opened the first school for intellectually disabled people. His method of treatment was based on the idea that intellectually disabled people did not suffer from disease.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author1=((The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica)) |title=Edouard Seguin (American psychiatrist)|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/532753/Edouard-Seguin|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=12 June 2013}}</ref>

===United Kingdom===
In the United Kingdom, provision for the care of the [[Mental illness|mentally ill]] began in the early 19th century with a state-led effort. Public mental asylums were established in Britain after the passing of the [[County Asylums Act 1808|1808 County Asylums Act]]. This empowered [[magistrate]]s to build rate-supported asylums in every [[county]] to house the many "pauper lunatics". Nine counties first applied, and the first public asylum opened in 1812 in [[Nottinghamshire]]. [[Parliamentary Committee]]s were established to investigate abuses at private madhouses like [[Bethlem Hospital]] - its officers were eventually dismissed and national attention was focused on the routine use of bars, chains and handcuffs and the filthy conditions in which the inmates lived. However, it was not until 1828 that the newly appointed [[Commissioners in Lunacy]] were empowered to license and supervise private asylums.

[[File:Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury by John Collier.jpg|thumb|left|220px|[[Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury|Lord Shaftesbury]], a vigorous campaigner for the reform of lunacy law in England, and the Head of the [[Lunacy Commission]] for 40 years.]]

The [[Lunacy Act 1845]] was a landmark in the treatment of the mentally ill, as it explicitly changed the status of mentally ill people to [[patients]] who required treatment. The Act created the [[Lunacy Commission]], headed by [[Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury|Lord Shaftesbury]], focusing on reform of the legislation concerning lunacy.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Unsworth |first=Clive  |title=Law and Lunacy in Psychiatry's 'Golden Age' |journal=Oxford Journal of Legal Studies |volume=13 |issue=4 |date=Winter 1993 |pages=482 |doi=10.1093/ojls/13.4.479 |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/oxfjls13&div=34 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The commission consisted of eleven Metropolitan Commissioners who were required to carry out the provisions of the Act;<ref name="Wright, 1999">[[David Wright (academic)|Wright, David]]: "Mental Health Timeline", 1999<!-- Someone will need to contact him to ask if he knows what this could possibly be referring to. there are no hints to what it is even if you follow all the merges and splits and moves of this information through edit histories and Wright's own list of all his publications doesn't include this either  --></ref>{{full citation needed|date=November 2014}} the compulsory construction of asylums in every county, with regular inspections on behalf of the [[Home Secretary]]. All asylums were required to have written regulations and to have a resident qualified [[physician]].<ref name="Wright, 1999"/> A national body for asylum superintendents - the ''Medico-Psychological Association'' - was established in 1866 under the Presidency of [[William A. F. Browne]], although the body appeared in an earlier form in 1841.<ref name=Shorter41>{{cite book |last1=Shorter |first1=E. |title=A history of psychiatry: from the era of the asylum to the age of Prozac |year=1997 |place=New York |publisher=Wiley |isbn=0-471-15749-X |oclc=34513743 |pages=34, 41}}</ref>

By the late 1800s, there were almost 300 public and private asylums in Britain and Ireland.<ref>[https://historic-hospitals.com/mental-hospitals-in-britain-and-ireland/asylums-in-the-united-kingdom-in-1898/  Historic Hospitals website, ''Asylums in the United Kingdom in 1898'']</ref><ref name=Shorter34>Shorter, E. (1997), p. 34</ref> By the late 1890s and early 1900s, those so detained had risen to the hundreds of thousands. However, the idea that mental illness could be ameliorated through institutionalization was soon disappointed.<ref name=Shorter46>Shorter, E. (1997), p. 46</ref> Psychiatrists were pressured by an ever-increasing patient population.<ref name=Shorter46/> The average number of patients in asylums kept increasing.<ref name=Shorter46/> Asylums were quickly becoming almost indistinguishable from custodial institutions,<ref name=Rothman>Rothman, D.J. (1990). ''The Discovery of the Asylum: Social Order and Disorder in the New Republic''. Boston: Little Brown, p. 239. {{ISBN|978-0-316-75745-4}}</ref> and the reputation of psychiatry in the medical world had was at an extreme low.<ref name=Shorter65>Shorter, E. (1997), p. 65</ref>

In modern times involuntary detention and treatment without agreement as regulated under one of various sections of the [[Mental Health Act 1983]] is informally known as "sectioning".<ref>{{cite web | title=Mental Health Act |publisher=UK NHS| date=7 September 2022| url=https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/social-care-and-your-rights/mental-health-and-the-law/mental-health-act/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=What are your legal rights if you are sectioned | website=Mind | url=https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/legal-rights/sectioning/about-sectioning/ |date=July 2020}}</ref> Sectioning is now regulated by the [[Mental Health Act 2007]] in England and Wales, the [[Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003]] in Scotland and other legislation in Northern Ireland.

===United States===
In the United States, the erection of state asylums began with the first law for the creation of one in New York, passed in 1842. The [[Utica State Hospital]] was opened approximately in 1850. The creation of this hospital, as of many others, was largely the work of [[Dorothea Lynde Dix]], whose philanthropic efforts extended over many states, and in Europe as far as [[Constantinople]]. Many state hospitals in the United States were built in the 1850s and 1860s on the [[Kirkbride Plan]], an architectural style meant to have curative effect.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yanni|first=Carla|title=The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States|publisher=Minnesota University Press|location=Minneapolis|year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fJOC_rSW1kgC&pg=PP1 | isbn=978-0-8166-4939-6}}</ref>

In the United States and most other developed societies, severe restrictions have been placed on the circumstances under which a person may be committed or treated against their will as such actions have been ruled by the [[United States Supreme Court]] and other national legislative bodies as a violation of [[civil rights]] and/or [[human rights]].  The Supreme Court case ''[[O'Connor v. Donaldson]]'' established that the mere presence of mental illness and the necessity for treatment are not sufficient by themselves to justify involuntary commitment, if the patient is capable of surviving in freedom and does not present a danger of harm to themselves or others. Criteria for involuntary commitment are generally set by the individual states, and often have both short- and long-term types of commitment. Short-term commitment tends to be a few days or less, requiring an examination by a medical professional, while longer-term commitment typically requires a court hearing, or sentencing as part of a criminal trial. Indefinite commitment is rare and is usually reserved for individuals who are violent or present an ongoing danger to themselves and others.

New York City officials under several administrations have implemented programs involving the involuntary hospitalization of people with mental illnesses in the city.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Newman |first=Andy |date=2022-12-02 |title=35 Years of Efforts to Address Mental Illness on New York Streets |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/nyregion/mental-illness-homeless-streets.html |access-date=2023-07-10 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Some of these policies have involved reinterpreting the standard of "harm to themselves or others" to include neglecting their own well-being or posing a harm to themselves or others in the future. In 1987–88, a [[Involuntary hospitalization of Joyce Brown|homeless woman named Joyce Brown]] worked with the [[New York Civil Liberties Union]] to challenge her forced hospitalization under new Mayor [[Ed Koch|Ed Koch's]] administration program. The trial, which attracted significant media attention, ended in her favor, and while the city won on appeal she was ultimately released after a subsequent case determined she could not be forcibly medicated.<ref name="LLC1988">{{cite book |last=Kasindorf |first=Jeanie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UuUCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=The Real Story of Billie Boggs |date=May 2, 1988 |publisher=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |pages=36–44 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302140249/https://books.google.com/books?id=UuUCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36 |archive-date=March 2, 2023 |url-status=live |access-date=December 11, 2022}}</ref><ref name="apnews">{{cite news |last1=Hampson |first1=Rick |date=June 3, 1991 |title=Whatever Happened to Billie Boggs? |work=[[Associated Press|AP News]] |url=https://apnews.com/article/515e79d71cbab2ab9e404fa58dc8863a |url-status=live |access-date=September 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930194030/https://apnews.com/article/515e79d71cbab2ab9e404fa58dc8863a |archive-date=September 30, 2022}}</ref> In 2022, Mayor [[Eric Adams]] announced a similar compulsory hospitalization program, relying on similar legal interpretations.<ref name="Kim-2022">{{Cite web |last=Kim |first=Elizabeth |date=November 30, 2022 |title=New NYC policy to address mental illness will force more people to hospitals. Here's what to know. |url=https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-will-forcibly-hospitalize-mentally-ill-people-heres-what-to-know-about-the-plan-and-its-obstacles |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130231901/https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-will-forcibly-hospitalize-mentally-ill-people-heres-what-to-know-about-the-plan-and-its-obstacles |archive-date=November 30, 2022 |access-date=December 1, 2022 |website=[[Gothamist]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kanu |first=Hassan |last2= |first2= |date=2022-12-08 |title=New York plan for forced 'removal' of mentally ill tests limits of the law |language=en |work=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/new-york-plan-forced-removal-mentally-ill-tests-limits-law-2022-12-08/ |access-date=July 10, 2023}}</ref>

Historically, until the mid-1960s in most jurisdictions in the [[United States]], all committals to public psychiatric facilities and most committals to private ones were involuntary. Since then, there have been alternating trends towards the abolition or substantial reduction of involuntary commitment,<ref name=Hendin>{{cite book |first=Herbert |last=Hendin | title = Suicide in America | publisher = W. W. Norton | year = 1996 | isbn = 978-0-393-31368-0 |oclc=37916353 | page = 214 }}</ref> a trend known as ''[[deinstitutionalisation]]''. In many currents, individuals can voluntarily admit themselves to a mental health hospital and may have more rights than those who are involuntarily committed. This practice is referred to as [[voluntary commitment]].

In the United States, [[Kansas v. Hendricks]] established the procedures for a long-term or indefinite [[Sexually violent predator laws|form of commitment]] applicable to people convicted of some [[Sex and the law|sexual offences]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Testa |first1=Megan |last2=West |first2=Sara G. |date=October 2010 |title=Civil Commitment in the United States |journal=Psychiatry (Edgmont) |volume=7 |issue=10 |pages=30–40 |issn=1550-5952 |pmc=3392176 |pmid=22778709}}</ref>

===United Nations===
[[United Nations]] [[UN General Assembly|General Assembly]] Resolution 46/119, "[[Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness|Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Health Care]]", is a non-binding resolution advocating certain broadly drawn procedures for the carrying out of involuntary commitment.<ref>{{cite web |author=UN General Assembly |author-link=UN General Assembly |title=A/RES/46/119: Principles for the protection of persons with mental illness and the improvement of mental health care |date=17 December 1991 |website=United Nations |url=https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/46/a46r119.htm |access-date=16 June 2016}}</ref> These principles have been used in many countries{{which|date=October 2017}} where local laws have been revised or new ones implemented. The UN runs programs in some countries to assist in this process.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mental Health and Development|url=https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/issues/mental-health-and-development.html|access-date=August 2, 2020|website=United Nations}}</ref>