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Full-Text Articles in Law
Solitary Confinement, Public Safety, And Recdivism, Shira E. Gordon
Solitary Confinement, Public Safety, And Recdivism, Shira E. Gordon
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
As of 2005, about 80,000 prisoners were housed in solitary confinement in jails and in state and federal prisons in the United States. Prisoners in solitary confinement are generally housed in a cell for twenty-two to twenty-four hours a day with little human contact or interaction. The number of prisoners held in solitary confinement increased 40 percent between 1995 and 2000, in comparison to the growth in the total prison population of 28 percent. Concurrently, the duration of time that prisoners spend in solitary confinement also increased: nationally, most prisoners in solitary confinement spend more than five years there. The …
Ripples Against The Other Shore: The Impact Of Trauma Exposure On The Immigration Process Through Adjudicators, Kate Aschenbrenner
Ripples Against The Other Shore: The Impact Of Trauma Exposure On The Immigration Process Through Adjudicators, Kate Aschenbrenner
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
Immigration is currently a hot topic; discussion of immigration reform and the problems in our current system appear in the news virtually every day. There is widespread consensus that our current immigration system is “broken,” but there is little agreement on why and even less on what should be done to fix it. These are difficult and important questions, involving many complex interrelated factors. While I do not hope and cannot aim to answer them completely in this Article, I will argue that in doing so we must consider an often overlooked and generally understudied issue: the effects of trauma …
Isolated Confinement In Michigan: Mapping The Circles Of Hell, Elizabeth Alexander, Patricia Streeter
Isolated Confinement In Michigan: Mapping The Circles Of Hell, Elizabeth Alexander, Patricia Streeter
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
For the past twelve months, there has been a burgeoning campaign to abolish, or greatly reduce, the use of segregated confinement in prisons. Advocates for the campaign call such classifications "solitary confinement" despite the fact that in some states, like New York, prisoners in these cells are often double-celled. The Michigan Department of Corrections, as well as other prison systems, uses labels such as "segregation," "special management," "special housing," and "observation" for these classifications. Prisoners ordinarily use traditional terms, such as "the hole." In this Essay we will refer to such restrictive classifications as "segregation" or "segregated confinement." Our perspective …
The Federal Bureau Of Prisons: Willfully Ignorant Or Maliciously Unlawful?, Deborah Golden
The Federal Bureau Of Prisons: Willfully Ignorant Or Maliciously Unlawful?, Deborah Golden
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
The Federal Bureau of Prisons ("BOP") and the larger U.S. government either purposely ignore the plight of men with serious mental illness in the federal prison system or maliciously act in violation of the law. I have no way of knowing which it is. In a complex system comprising many individual actors, motivations are most likely complex and contradictory. Either way, uncontrovertibly, the BOP and the U.S. government, against overwhelming evidence to the contrary, continuously assert that there are no men with serious mental illnesses housed in the federal supermax prison, the Administrative Maximum facility in Florence, Colorado, also known …
The Upc Substituted Judgment/Best Interest Standard For Guardian Decisions: A Proposal For Reform, Lawrence A. Forlik, Linda S. Whitton
The Upc Substituted Judgment/Best Interest Standard For Guardian Decisions: A Proposal For Reform, Lawrence A. Forlik, Linda S. Whitton
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The introduction in 1997 of "substituted judgment" as a guiding principle for guardian decisions was a key contribution of the UPC to guardianship reform. The current UPC Section 5-314(a) instructs guardians to "consider the expressed desires and personal values of the ward" when making decisions and to "at all times ... act in the ward's best interest." This dual mandate for guardian decisions was intended to promote the self-determination interests of incapacitated adults. This Article argues that in practice the standard has failed to achieve this goal. It analyzes the shortcomings of UPC Section 5-314(a) and other statutory decision-making standards …
Dubious Delegation: Article Iii Limits On Mental Health Treatment Decisions, Adam Teitelbaum
Dubious Delegation: Article Iii Limits On Mental Health Treatment Decisions, Adam Teitelbaum
Michigan Law Review
A common condition of supervised release requires a defendant, post-incarceration, to participate in a mental health treatment program. Federal district courts often order probation officers to make certain decisions ancillary to these programs. However Article III delegation doctrine places limits on such actions. This Note addresses the constitutionality of delegating the "treatment program" decision, in which a probation officer decides which type of treatment the defendant must undergo; the choice is often between inpatient treatment and other less restrictive alternatives. The resolution of this issue ultimately depends on whether this decision constitutes a "judicial act." Finding support in lower court …
Reform That Understands Our Seniors: How Interdisciplinary Services Can Help Solve The Capacity Riddle In Elder Law, Thomas Richard Stasi
Reform That Understands Our Seniors: How Interdisciplinary Services Can Help Solve The Capacity Riddle In Elder Law, Thomas Richard Stasi
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note suggests an interdisciplinary approach to assist in determinations of legal capacity. It also urges an amendment to the Model Rules and current law firm business models, so attorneys can better approach capacity challenges. While this Note does not presume to resolve the problems faced by capacity determinations, the purpose is to offer functional alternatives to the current working models. Part I reviews the Model Rules' treatment of capacity issues, detailing attorneys' conflicting ethical duties and the ambiguous methodology for capacity evaluations. Part II examines the customary processes that attorneys presently follow for seeking diagnostic evaluations and highlights their …
When Coercion Lacks Care: Competency To Make Medical Treatment Decisions And Parens Patriae Civil Commitments, Dora W. Klein
When Coercion Lacks Care: Competency To Make Medical Treatment Decisions And Parens Patriae Civil Commitments, Dora W. Klein
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The subject of this Article is people who have been civilly committed under a state's parens patriae authority to care for those who are unable to care for themselves. These are people who, because of a mental illness, are a danger to themselves. Even after they have been determined to be so disabled by their mental illness that they cannot care for themselves, many are nonetheless found to be competent to refuse medical treatment. Competency to make medical treatment decisions generally requires only a capacity to understand a proposed treatment, not an actual or rational understanding of that treatment. This …
The Choice To Limit Choice: Using Psychiatric Advance Directives To Manage The Effects Of Mental Illness And Support Self-Responsibility, Breanne M. Sheetz
The Choice To Limit Choice: Using Psychiatric Advance Directives To Manage The Effects Of Mental Illness And Support Self-Responsibility, Breanne M. Sheetz
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Psychiatric advance directives are a valuable tool for individuals with mental illnesses. Ulysses directives, in particular, allow individuals to bind themselves to treatment in advance of needing it for the purpose of overcoming illness-induced refusals. This Note evaluates the effectiveness of state advance directive statutes in three areas that are especially important for Ulysses directives: defining competency to execute, activate, and revoke directives; waiving the constitutional right to refuse treatment; and encouraging provider compliance. This Note ultimately advocates for other states to adopt provisions similar to a Washington State statute. The Washington statute authorizes Ulysses directives by allowing advance consent …
Something Must Be Done: An Argument For The Partial Deregulation Of Research On Bipolar Disorder And The Implementation Of Rolling Informed Consent, Janalee S. Kraschnewski
Something Must Be Done: An Argument For The Partial Deregulation Of Research On Bipolar Disorder And The Implementation Of Rolling Informed Consent, Janalee S. Kraschnewski
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Bipolar disorder (BD) cripples the lives of countless individuals across the globe. The healthcare community has had difficulty securing effective, long-term treatment for this disease. This Note argues that enlarging the pool of possible research subjects through partial deregulation of BD research would facilitate the development of better treatment. This Note further proposes the implementation of a system of rolling informed consent to ensure that actual and full consent is obtained from BD research subjects.
Breaking The Camel's Back: A Consideration Of Mitigatory Criminal Defenses And Racism-Related Mental Illness, Camille A. Nelson
Breaking The Camel's Back: A Consideration Of Mitigatory Criminal Defenses And Racism-Related Mental Illness, Camille A. Nelson
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This article will examine the concept of racist words, symbols, and actions that are used as weapons to "ambush, terrorize, wound, humiliate, and degrade,” as psychological and physiological violence. The implications of such violence are relevant to several affirmative defenses and, indeed, to the initial formulation of mens rea. The historical and contextual legacy that is intentionally invoked by the utilization of racialized violence is what separates the racial epithet or racially violent symbolism from other distressing insults and slurs. While First Amendment protection extends to offensive or insulting speech, the mental and physical sequelae of such speech, even absent …
"What's Good Is Bad, What's Bad Is Good, You'll Find Out When You Reach The Top, You're On The Bottom": Are The Americans With Disabilities Act (And Olmstead V. L. C.) Anything More Than "Idiot Wind?", Michael L. Perlin
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Mental disability law is contaminated by "sanism, " an irrational prejudice similar to such other irrational prejudices as racism and sexism. The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-a statute that focused specifically on questions of stereotyping and stigma-appeared at first to offer an opportunity to deal frontally with sanist attitudes and, optimally, to restructure the way that citizens with mental disabilities were dealt with by the remainder of society. However, in its first decade, the ADA did not prove to be a panacea for such persons. The Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C. - ruling that …
The Impact Of The Americans With Disabilities Act On State Bar Examiner's Inquiries Into The Psychological History Of Bar Applicants, Carol J. Banta
The Impact Of The Americans With Disabilities Act On State Bar Examiner's Inquiries Into The Psychological History Of Bar Applicants, Carol J. Banta
Michigan Law Review
This Note argues that the use of any questions based upon an applicant's psychological history in the state bar application process violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. Part I demonstrates that Title II of the ADA applies to state boards of bar examiners, and that the ADA definition of a person with a disability includes a person who has sought or received psychological counseling. Part II applies the ADA and accompanying regulations to the psychological history inquiries currently used by state bar examiners and argues that such inquiries violate the ADA because they inquire specifically about disabled status. Part III …
Equality, "Anisonomy," And Justice: A Review Of Madness And The Criminal Law, Andrew Von Hirsch
Equality, "Anisonomy," And Justice: A Review Of Madness And The Criminal Law, Andrew Von Hirsch
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Madness and the Criminal Law by Norval Morris
The Theory And Practice Of Civil Commitment, Andrew Scull
The Theory And Practice Of Civil Commitment, Andrew Scull
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Court of Last Resort: Mental Illness and the Law by Carol A.B. Warren, contributions by Stephen J. Morse and Jack Zusman
The Insanity Plea: The Uses And Abuses Of The Insanity Defense, Michigan Law Review
The Insanity Plea: The Uses And Abuses Of The Insanity Defense, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Insanity Plea: The Uses and Abuses of the Insanity Defense by William J. Winslade and Judith Wilson Ross
Evaluating Michigan's Guilty But Mentally Ill Verdict: An Empirical Study, Gare A. Smith, James A. Hall
Evaluating Michigan's Guilty But Mentally Ill Verdict: An Empirical Study, Gare A. Smith, James A. Hall
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Because Michigan's GBMI statute has been in effect for several years, enough data exists to assess the statute's use and practical effect. The purpose of this Project is to evaluate the statute and thus provide guidance for those legislatures considering similar proposals. This Project concludes that the new verdict has completely failed in its intended purpose. Part I describes the statute's history, legislative purpose, and procedural mechanics. Part II analyzes the displacing effect of the GBMI verdict on other verdicts, and sets forth empirical data on the disparate characteristics of defendants who raise the insanity defense and are subsequently found …
Mental Health Law: Major Issues, Michigan Law Review
Mental Health Law: Major Issues, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Mental Health Law: Major Issues by David B. Wexler
Cults, Deprogrammers, And The Necessity Defense, Michigan Law Review
Cults, Deprogrammers, And The Necessity Defense, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
This Note considers the applicability of the necessity defense in criminal prosecutions of parents and deprogrammers. Part I explores the conflicting policies that underlie the traditional necessity defense, and suggests that courts replace their unitary approach to necessity with a "choice of evils" defense - for actors reasonably attempting to avoid a greater evil - and a "compulsion" defense - for actors reacting understandably to the pressure of circumstances. Part II applies these defenses to deprogramming cases, and concludes that rarely may they be advanced successfully.
Mental Disabilities And Criminal Responsibility, Michigan Law Review
Mental Disabilities And Criminal Responsibility, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Mental Disabilities and Criminal Responsibility by Herbert Fingarette and Ann Fingarette Hasse
Beating A Rap? Defendants Found Incompetent To Stand Trial, Michigan Law Review
Beating A Rap? Defendants Found Incompetent To Stand Trial, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Beating a Rap? Defendants Found Incompetent To Stand Trial by Henry J. Steadman
Conscience And Convenience: The Asylum And Its Alternatives In Progressive America, Michigan Law Review
Conscience And Convenience: The Asylum And Its Alternatives In Progressive America, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Conscience and Convenience: The Asylum and Its Alternatives in Progressive America by David J. Rothman
The Rise Of Prisons And The Origins Of The Rehabilitative Ideal, Carl E. Schneider
The Rise Of Prisons And The Origins Of The Rehabilitative Ideal, Carl E. Schneider
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Discovery of the Asylum: Social Order and Disorder in the New Republic by David J. Rothman
The Constitutionality Of Michigan's Guilty But Mentally Ill Verdict, John M. Grostic
The Constitutionality Of Michigan's Guilty But Mentally Ill Verdict, John M. Grostic
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This article will assess the constitutionality of the statute providing for a GBMI verdict by examining the likely, impact of this statute on the constitutional rights of legally insane defendants. Part I will briefly outline the relevant provisions of the GBMI statute. Part II will consider whether legally insane defendants have a constitutional right to an insanity defense. Part III will then argue that some defendants, though legally insane at the time they committed allegedly criminal acts, will nevertheless be found GBMI rather than NGRI.
Regulation Of Electroconvulsive Therapy, Michigan Law Review
Regulation Of Electroconvulsive Therapy, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Regulation of ECT has generally focused on whether the patient or his representative effectively consented to the treatment. The highly intrusive nature of ECT and the unique circumstances of those patients who are likely to receive it create particularly difficult legal issues concerning the validity of the patient's consent. This Note will examine the various methods that are available to protect the rights of patients for whom ECT is proposed. After briefly explaining the nature of the therapy, the Note will discuss the efficacy of judicial remedies with respect to both competent and incompetent patients. It will argue that, because …
Michigan's Revised Mental Health Code, William David Serwer
Michigan's Revised Mental Health Code, William David Serwer
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This note will evaluate the three chapters of the Michigan Code which present the most significant legislative attempts to safeguard the rights of the mentally ill. Chapter Four of the Code extends several traditional due process guarantees to the civil commitment process. By guaranteeing the right to adequate notice, the right to be present at the hearing, the right to be represented by counsel, and the right to notice of trial by jury, the Code offers better protection from unwarranted commitment. However, due to the difficulty of defining mental illness and accurately identifying those in need of treatment, the possibility …
On The Voluntary Admission Of Minors, Louis Lessem
On The Voluntary Admission Of Minors, Louis Lessem
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The past several years have been witness to dramatic changes in both the theory and practice of civil commitment. In the law, this development has taken the form of increased concern for the protection of the personal liberties of the mentally ill while among members of the medical profession it has been experienced as a part of the process of opening up the back wards. Legislatures in many states have responded by revising their mental health statutes to establish more rigorous standards for commitment, periodic review of the status of committed patients, and better procedural safeguards throughout the commitment process. …
Police Initiated Emergency Psychiatric Detention In Michigan, Mark F. Mehlman
Police Initiated Emergency Psychiatric Detention In Michigan, Mark F. Mehlman
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
While performing his duties a police officer may frequently be confronted with the behavior of an individual which threatens or has resulted in self-inflicted injury, or which poses an imminent threat to the safety of others. Under such circumstances an officer may determine that criminal arrest is inappropriate but that some form of restraint is necessary. Michigan has provided an alternative course of action by authorizing temporary emergency psychiatric detention of an individual whom a police officer deems to be "mentally ill and manifesting homicidal or other dangerous tendencies."
Mental Illness And Criminal Commitment In Michigan, Grant H. Morris
Mental Illness And Criminal Commitment In Michigan, Grant H. Morris
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This article concentrates on one vital issue: to what extent are differences in treatment justified because of a mentally ill person's "criminal" involvement. While the article is primarily concerned with Michigan institutions and Michigan statutes, the discussion and the solutions proposed are in many respects applicable to all states of the Union. Not only must all states reevaluate their policies toward criminal commitment of the mentally ill in light of ever-changing medical and penal theory, but they must also consider the developing constitutional concepts in this area. These constitutional issues are raised here only to the extent necessary to alert …
The Language Of Involuntary Mental Hospitalization: A Study In Sound And Fury, Steven H. Levinson
The Language Of Involuntary Mental Hospitalization: A Study In Sound And Fury, Steven H. Levinson
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Involuntary civil commitment is the business of hospitalizing and treating, without their consent, persons whom a court, with the aid of professional diagnosticians, determines to be psychologically disturbed or mentally ill. The purpose of the present study will be to demonstrate that the medical diagnoses of mental illness which justify involuntary civil commitment are achieved on the basis of at least unreliable and at worst invalid sets of diagnostic categories and assessments. For the purpose of determining the reliability of these diagnostic findings, the author selected a representative sample of the involuntary mental hospitalization proceedings of the Wayne County Probate …