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A mental disorder of a kind or degree warranting confinement: examining justifications for psychiatric detention

Bartlett, Peter

A mental disorder of a kind or degree warranting confinement: examining justifications for psychiatric detention Thumbnail


Authors

PETER BARTLETT peter.bartlett@nottingham.ac.uk
Nottingham Healthcare Nhs Trust Professor of Mental Health Law



Abstract

It has long been the case in jurisprudence under the European Convention on Human Rights that mental disorder must be of a certain severity in order to justify detention,
but there has been little meaningful debate as to what that means. The question is relevant not merely to the European Court of Human Rights, but also to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, as the potential of inhuman or degrading treatment that arises from the coercive elements in institutions is particularly clear if persons are wrongfully detained in an institution and ought in fact to be somewhere else. Considerable improvement in the substantive clarity of domestic law is therefore required. The specifics of the domestic standards are a matter for individual governments but, within the Council of Europe, they will need to meet the requirements of both the European Convention on Human Rights and the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The article considers the traditional justifications for civil detention in psychiatry – dangerousness, need for treatment and capacity – in the light of these two conventions.

Citation

Bartlett, P. (2012). A mental disorder of a kind or degree warranting confinement: examining justifications for psychiatric detention. International Journal of Human Rights, 16(6), https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2012.706008

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Aug 30, 2012
Deposit Date Aug 31, 2012
Publicly Available Date Aug 31, 2012
Journal International Journal of Human Rights
Print ISSN 1364-2987
Electronic ISSN 1744-053X
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Not Peer Reviewed
Volume 16
Issue 6
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2012.706008
Keywords mental health
mental disability
psychiatric detention
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture
CPT
dangerousness
mental capacity
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
CRPD
European Convention on Human
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/710823
Publisher URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13642987.2012.706008
Additional Information This is a preprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in the International Journal of Human Rights © 2012, Taylor & Francis; International Journal of Human Rights is available online at: www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13642987.2012.706008

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