PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - William H. Fisher AU - Thomas Grisso TI - Commentary: Civil Commitment Statutes—40 Years of Circumvention DP - 2010 Sep 01 TA - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online PG - 365--368 VI - 38 IP - 3 4099 - http://jaapl.org/content/38/3/365.short 4100 - http://jaapl.org/content/38/3/365.full SO - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2010 Sep 01; 38 AB - There is a longstanding body of literature that describes how states’ civil commitment statutes have been stretched or circumvented to accommodate institutional and systemic needs. The paper by Levitt and colleagues provides yet another example of this phenomenon: Arizona's use of its civil commitment statutes to detain unrestorable, incompetent criminal defendants for whom other provisions have not been developed. This commentary provides a brief overview of other examples of the stretching of commitment laws, providing a broader context for viewing the findings of Levitt and colleagues.