In 2008, Virginia’s General Assembly enacted significant amendments to the Commonwealth’s civil commitment statute, based on the recommendations of the Commission on Mental Health Law Reform (the “Commission”). This document is designed to review the statutory language that modified the civil commitment criteria, provide examples of how the new language in the statute might be applied, and promote a common understanding of the commitment criteria across the Commonwealth. 

Citation
Richard J. Bonnie, Bruce J. Cohen & John T. Monahan, Understanding and Applying Virginia’s New Statutory Civil Commitment Criteria, 28 Developments in Mental Health Law 127–139 (2009).