The Role of Counsel in Civil Commitment: Changes, Effects, and Determinants

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Abstract
To investigate the “post-reform” role of counsel in civil commitment hearings, courtroom proceedings in 132 cases were observed in one county in a state with representative statutory reform incorporating judicial decisions and professional recommendations. Behavior was recorded by checklist and notetaking; and background information was collected from court records. Counsel was found to assume an advocate's role in less than half of contested cases. The effect of such a role was a significant reduction in commitments. In-depth interviews with a nonsystematic sample of counsel provided information on counsel's prehearing behavior and on the determinants of counsel's role. It is hypothesized that counsel's behavior is determined by one of three decision models—(1) medical, (2) client, or (3) counsel—and that these decision models are influenced by counsel's beliefs about mental illness, mental hospitalization, and psychiatry.

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