Christopher Paul P, Pinals Debra A, Stayton Taylor, Sanders Kellie, Blumberg Lester
Dr. Christopher is Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, and Taylor Stayton is a medical student, Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI. Dr. Pinals is Assistant Commissioner, Forensic Services, and Mr. Blumberg is General Counsel, Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, Boston, MA. Dr. Pinals is also Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA. Ms. Sanders is a trial attorney, Committee for Public Counsel Services, Greater Boston Area, Boston, MA. Early study results were presented at the 164th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in May 2011 and the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law in October 2012. Dr. Christopher received funding from NIDA (K23 DA034030).
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2015 Sep;43(3):313-20.
Substance abuse is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Although civil commitment has been used to address substance abuse for more than a century, little is known today about the nature and use of substance-related commitment laws in the United States. We examined statutes between July 2010 and October 2012 from all 50 states and the District of Columbia for provisions authorizing civil commitment of adults for substance abuse and recorded the criteria and evidentiary standard for commitment and the location and the maximum duration of commitment orders. High-level state representatives evaluated these data and provided information on the use of commitment. Thirty-three states have statutory provisions for the civil commitment of persons because of substance abuse. The application of these statutes ranged from a few commitment cases to thousands annually. Although dangerousness was the most common basis for commitment, many states permitted it in other contexts. The maximum duration of treatment ranged from less than 1 month to more than 1 year for both initial and subsequent civil commitment orders. These findings show wide variability in the nature and application of civil commitment statutes for substance abuse in the United States. Such diversity reflects a lack of consensus on the role that civil commitment should play in managing substance abuse and the problems associated with it.
药物滥用是美国发病和死亡的主要原因。尽管民事拘留在解决药物滥用问题上已使用了一个多世纪，但如今对于美国与药物相关的拘押法律的性质和使用情况却知之甚少。我们研究了2010年7月至2012年10月期间来自美国50个州和哥伦比亚特区的法规，以查找授权对成年人因药物滥用进行民事拘押的条款，并记录了拘押的标准和证据标准以及拘押令的地点和最长时限。州高级代表对这些数据进行了评估，并提供了有关拘押使用情况的信息。33个州有因药物滥用对人员进行民事拘押的法定条款。这些法规的适用范围从每年几起拘押案件到数千起不等。尽管危险性是拘押最常见的依据，但许多州在其他情况下也允许进行拘押。对于初次和后续的民事拘押令，治疗的最长时限从不到1个月到超过1年不等。这些发现表明，美国药物滥用民事拘押法规的性质和适用存在很大差异。这种多样性反映出在民事拘押在管理药物滥用及其相关问题中应发挥的作用上缺乏共识。
