Washington's Senate Bill 6610 on Transferring Provisions for Persons Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

Abstract

In Washington state, public concern about the potential dangerousness of mentally ill offenders has led to increasing legislative efforts to contain them in secure settings. A recently enacted law authorizes the transfer of persons found not guilty by reason of insanity from state psychiatric hospitals to prison facilities. The authors review the recent legislation and discuss some of the legal, policy, and clinical ramifications of the law.