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Involuntary civil commitment for substance use disorders in puerto rico: Neglected rights violations and implications for legal reform

Parker, CM; Miranda-Miller, OE; Albizugarcía, C; (2022) Involuntary civil commitment for substance use disorders in puerto rico: Neglected rights violations and implications for legal reform. Health and Human Rights , 24 (2) pp. 59-70. Green open access

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Abstract

Laws facilitating the involuntary civil commitment (ICC) of people with substance use disorders vary considerably internationally and across the United States. Puerto Rico, a colonial territory of the United States since 1898, currently harbors the most punitive ICC legislation in the country. It is the only place in the United States where self-sufficient adults who pose no grave danger to themselves or others can be involuntarily committed to restrictive residential facilities for over a year at a time without ever being assessed by a health care professional. The involuntary commitment of otherwise-able citizens—many of whom have never been diagnosed with a substance use disorder—continues to be ignored nationally and internationally. In this paper, we specify how Puerto Rican ICC law and procedures systematically violate rights and liberties that are supposed to be guaranteed by Puerto Rico’s Mental Health Act, the US Federal Supreme Court, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To ensure that Puerto Rico’s ICC procedures conform to prevailing local, national, and international standards, we propose a series of legislative reforms. Finally, we highlight the importance of addressing the preponderance of poorly constructed ICC laws both within the United States and internationally.

Type: Article
Title: Involuntary civil commitment for substance use disorders in puerto rico: Neglected rights violations and implications for legal reform
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Publisher version: https://www.hhrjournal.org/2022/08/involuntary-civ...
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2022 Parker, Miranda-Miller, Albizu-García. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction.
Keywords: Adult, United States, Humans, Puerto Rico, Involuntary Commitment, Human Rights, Substance-Related Disorders, Mental Health, Civil Rights
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Anthropology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10181743
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