RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Civil Commitment Outcomes of Incompetent Defendants
JF Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
JO J Am Acad Psychiatry Law
FD American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
SP 349
OP 358
VO 38
IS 3
A1 Gwen A. Levitt
A1 Illa Vora
A1 Kelly Tyler
A1 Liliane Arenzon
A1 David Drachman
A1 Gilbert Ramos
YR 2010
UL http://jaapl.org/content/38/3/349.abstract
AB In Maricopa County, Arizona, most defendants who are found not competent and not restorable (NCNR) are admitted involuntarily to an acute-care inpatient hospital. Many of these patients would most likely not have met the State's usual admission criteria for acute inpatient care had they not been evaluated in relation to a criminal offense. Is this group treated differently from their peers who are not involved in the criminal justice system? We examined records for 293 NCNR admissions, retrospectively, to assess their admission status and the outcomes of their commitment. We compared them to 280 matched cases of patients admitted involuntarily from the community (non-NCNR). The NCNR group met fewer admission criteria and received court-ordered treatment (COT) 22 percent more often than did the non-NCNR patients. The NCNR patients had longer hospital stays despite being found less dangerous to themselves or others than the community sample. Results suggest that NCNR individuals are treated differently from non-NCNR patients.