TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1995//
TI  - Sexual predators and legal mental illness for civil commitment
JO  - Behavioral sciences and the law
A1  - Schopp, Robert F.
A1  - Sturgis, Barbara J.
SP  - 437
EP  - 458
VL  - 13
IS  - 4
N2  - Sexual predator statutes, as well as civil commitment statutes generally, fail to provide criteria of eligibility generating an appropriate conception of legal mental illness. As a result, experts are unable to offer, and courts are unable to evaluate, appropriate testimony relevant to the subject's standing as mentally ill under these statutes. Commitment statutes must provide criteria of eligibility for some legal status in a manner that fulfills the discriminative and justificatory functions and allows integration of the roles of the expert witness, the court, and the law maker. Expert testimony in the form of descriptive diagnosis and explanation of the relationship between the impairment and the psychological operations specified in the criteria of eligibility would provide the court with the information it needs in order to determine whether the subject of the commitment petition demonstrates legal mental illness for the purpose of commitment.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0735-3936
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2370130402
ID  - ref1
ER  -