The Florida Mental Health Act of 1971 (

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Statute 394.451-394.47891 009 rev., commonly known as the "Baker Act", allows the involuntary institutionalization and examination of an individual. The Baker Act allows for involuntary examination (what some call emergency or involuntary commitment), which can be initiated by judges, law enforcement officials, physicians, or mental health professionals and close friends and relatives. There must be evidence that the person: * possibly has a mental illness. * is in danger of becoming a harm to self or harm to others, or is self-neglectful. Both of these are defined in the Baker Act. Examinations may last up to 72 hours after a person is deemed medically stable and occur in over 100

Florida Department of Children and Families The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) is a state agency of Florida. Its headquarters are at 2415 North Monroe St., Ste. 400 in Tallahassee, Florida. The department provides social services to children, adults, refugees, domestic ...

-designated receiving facilities statewide. There are many possible outcomes following examination of the patient. These include the release of the individual to the community (or other community placement), a petition for involuntary inpatient placement (often called civil commitment), involuntary outpatient placement (what some call outpatient commitment or assisted treatment orders), or voluntary treatment (if the person is competent to consent to voluntary treatment and consents to voluntary treatment). The involuntary outpatient placement language in the Baker Act took effect as part of the Baker Act reform in 2005. The legislation was nicknamed the "Baker Act" after Florida Democratic state representative from Miami, Maxine Baker, who served from 1963 to 1972. She had a strong interest in mental health issues, served as chair of the House Committee on Mental Health, and was the sponsor of the bill. The nickname has led to the term "Baker Act" as a

transitive verb A transitive verb is a verb that accepts one or more objects, for example, 'cleaned' in ''Donald cleaned the window''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not have objects, for example, 'panicked' in ''Donald panicked''. Transitiv ...

, and "Baker Acted" as a passive-voice verb, for invoking the Act to force an individual's commitment. Although the Baker Act is a statute only for the state of Florida, use of "Baker Acting" as a verb has become prevalent as a

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

term for involuntary commitment in other regions of the United States.

Criteria for involuntary examination

Specific criteria must be met in order to initiate involuntary examination. Among those criteria are the following elements, which do not individually qualify an individual as meeting the criteria: * Reason to believe that the person has a mental illness; * The person refuses voluntary examination; * The person is unable to determine whether examination is necessary. The decisive criterion, as stated in the statute, mentions a substantial likelihood that without care or treatment the person will cause serious bodily harm in the near future. Criteria are not met simply because a person has a mental illness, appears to have mental problems, takes psychiatric medication, has an emotional outburst, or refuses voluntary examination. Furthermore, if there are family members or friends that will help prevent any potential and present threat of substantial harm, the criteria for involuntary examination are also not met. The following are not included under this act: * Developmental disability * Intoxication * Conditions manifested only by antisocial behavior * Conditions manifested only by substance abuse impairment "Substantial likelihood" must involve evidence of recent behavior to justify the substantial likelihood of serious bodily harm in the near future. Moments in the past, when an individual may have considered harming themselves or another, do not qualify the individual as meeting the criteria.

Reception

An editorial in the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single y ...

'' wrote "that crisis stabilization is a Band-Aid solution to emotional problems" and the Act should be reformed to allow public defenders to have access to the patient's medical records and ongoing counseling and outpatient mental health treatment should be provided to the patient.

References

;Notes

External links

Text of the Baker Act

Baker Act Reporting Center
* {{cite news , title=Crisis Services – Baker Act , url=https://www.myflfamilies.com/service-programs/samh/crisis-services/baker-act.shtml , publisher=Florida Department of Children and Families , others=Includes forms, links to resources, statement of patients' rights Health in Florida Mental health law in the United States Forensic psychology Florida law 1971 in law 1971 in Florida Involuntary commitment

Criteria for involuntary examination

Reception

See also

References

External links