Civil Commitment: The Nebraska Substantive Standard
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Authors
Lang, James E.
Issue Date
1974
Volume
7
Issue
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|Conceivably, under Nebraska's civil commitment statute a person could be committed for biting his fingernails. The state's power to deprive a person of liberty must rest upon some compelling consideration. In criminal cases the state derives its authority from the police power, which is controlled by welldefined substantive rights and procedural safeguards. In civil commitment proceedings the same fundamental liberty is at stake, but commitment procedures have not exhibited the safeguards of the criminal area.|The dichotomy between the criminal and civil commitment areas rests upon two bases: (1) that civil commitment is deemed "civil," not criminal and (2) that the state acts as parens patriae, not as a prosecutor.|During the early period of this country, danger-to-others was the sole basis for involuntary commitment. In 1845, the Massachusetts supreme court expanded this commitment basis to include danger to-self: |[T]he right to restrain an insane person of his liberty is found in that great law of humanity, which makes it necessary to confine those whose going at large would be dangerous to themselves or others .... (Emphasis added)....
Description
Citation
7 Creighton L. Rev. 265 (1973-1974)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law