District Court Dept. Mental Health Standards

Standards of Judicial Practice: Civil Commitment and Authorization of Medical Treatment for Mental Illness have been revised effective January 3, 2012.  The Standards cover the issues of civil commitment and authorization of medical treatment in great detail. According to the document,

"Unlike rules of court, the Standards of Judicial Practice are not mandatory in application. They represent a qualitative judgment as to best practices in each of the various aspects of the civil commitment procedure.  As such, each court should strive for compliance with the Standards and should treat them as a statement of desirable practice to be departed from only with good cause."

 The standards and other information on mental health proceedings are available at our Mass. Law About Mental Health.