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Tarasoff As A Duty To Treat: Insights From Criminal Law, Christopher Slobogin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In most jurisdictions, the Tarasoff duty is defined as a duty on the part of mental health professionals to act on patient threats of serious harm to identified individuals. Although breach of this duty has, to date, only led to civil liability, a good case can that it should lead to criminal liability as well, not just for something minor like a failure to report a potential crime, but for the felony committed by the patient. Furthermore, to the extent Tarasoff requires merely a warning after a serious threat to an identified victim, this civil and criminal liability could logically …