Mental commitments: The judicial function—a case perspective

Abstract

Professor LaFranee served as a circuit judge pro tempore in a number of mental commitment proceedings in Oregon. He then observed several days of proceedings in Maine, for comparison purposes. Here he summarizes many of the Oregon and Maine cases, changing names of respondents, witnesses and attorneys for privacy purposes. This narrative enriches existing literature, which rarely reflects a judge's perspective on mental health. Professor LaFrance's conclusions are important—that a judge is, unfortunately, isolated from other agencies in the mental health system, that resources and personnel are inadequate, that the availability of community resources is important not only in serving the mentally ill but in defining them, and—finally—that existing definitions are overly broad.