Mental Health Law
LAW 675 – Fall 2017
Profs. Preis and Saks
Room 12 – 2:00 – 3:50 pm
(All page citations refer to Law and the Mental Health System
–Slobogin, Hafemeister, Mossman, Reisner ( 6th Edition)
8/24/17:Mental Disorders – pp. 4 - 30
I. Introduction
II. Perspectives on Mental Disorder
- The Interface of Law and Mental Disorder
- What is Mental Disorder?
- Diagnosing Mental Disorder
III.Treatment of Mental Disorder
- Introduction
8/31/17:Expertise – pp. 493 - 557
I. Introduction
II. Admissibility of Clinical Opinion Testimony
A. Normality
- Responsibility
- Propensity
9/7/17:Civil Commitment – Police Power – pp. 804 - 849
I. Introduction
II. The Basis for State Intervention
A. Introduction
B. Police Power Commitment
- Handout – Lewis Carrol excerpt
- Video – Hurry Tomorrow
(documentary on Metropolitan State Hospital, 1975)
9/14/17:Civil Commitment – Parens Patriae and Least Restrictive Alternative doctrine
- pp. 854 – 858; 872 - 903
C. Parens Patriae Commitments
III. Least Restrictive Alternative Doctrine
- Handout – New Yorker Article, Aviv, God Knows Where I Am
9/21/17:Civil Commitment – Procedures 904 - 927
IV. Procedures
- General Considerations
- Emergency Detention
C. Adjudicatory Hearing Procedures
- Handouts
- Conservatorship of Roulet
- L-P-S excerpts
9/28/17:Children
V. Commitment of Other Populations
E. Children – pp. 1018 - 1035
I. Special Educational Benefits
A. Scope of Guaranteed Benefits – pp. 1335 - 1365
10/5/17: Right to Treatment
O’Connor v. Donaldson – pp. 858 - 866
II. Theoretical Underpinnings of the Right to Treatment – pp. 1246 - 1268
IV. The Right to Community Services – pp. 1312 - 1331
10/12/17:Discrimination
Anti-discrimination Law – pp. 1401 – 1447
- Constitutional Protections
II. Employment Opportunities
B. Qualification and Reasonable Accommodation
- Handouts
- Unzicker Poem (To Be a Mental Patient)
10/19/17:Insanity Defense – pp. 625 - 673
I. Introduction
II. Criminal Responsibility
A. The Insanity Defense
B. The Automatism Defense
10/26/17:Other Criminal Law Doctrines – pp. 673 - 725
II. Criminal Responsibility (cont’d)
C. Expert Testimony on Mens Rea
D. Other Defenses
E. Abolition of the Insanity Defense
11/2/17:Sentencing – pp. 735 - 801
III. Sentencing
A. Capital Sentencing
B. Non-Capital Sentencing
11/9/17:Competency and Right to Refuse Treatment
I. Introduction – pp. 1037 - 1039
II. General Considerations – pp. 1039 - 1053
IV. The Right to Refuse Consent and Consent to Psychiatric Treatment
– pp. 1081 - 1112
A. Psychotropic Medication
11/16/17:Competency to Proceed – pp. 1126 - 1179
V. Competency in the Criminal Process
A. Competency to Proceed
11/30/17:Decisional and Dignitary Competency – pp. 1180 - 1231
V. Competency in the Criminal Process (cont’d)
B. Decisional Competency
C. Dignitarian Competency