Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/104605/addington-vs-texas
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 14:51:43+00:00

Document:
Held: A "clear and convincing" standard of proof is required by the Fourteenth Amendment in a civil proceeding brought under state law to commit an individual involuntarily for an indefinite period to a state mental hospital. Pp. 441 U. S. 425 -433.
(a) The individual's liberty interest in the outcome of a civil commitment proceeding is of such weight and gravity, compared with the state's interests in providing care to its citizens who are unable, because of emotional disorders, to care for themselves and in protecting the community from the dangerous tendencies of some who are mentally ill, that due process requires the state to justify confinement by proof more substantial than a mere preponderance of the evidence. Pp. 441 U. S. 425 -427.
(c) To meet due process demands in commitment,proceedings, the standard of proof has to inform the factfinder that the proof must be greater than the "preponderance of the evidence" standard applicable to other categories of civil cases. However, use of the term "unequivocal" in conjunction with the terms "clear and convincing" in jury instructions (as included in the instructions given by the Texas state court in this case) is not constitutionally required, although states are free to use that standard. Pp. 441 U. S. 431 -433.
In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358 , 397 U. S. 370 (1970) (Harlan, J., concurring). The standard serves to allocate the risk of error between the litigants and to indicate the relative importance attached to the ultimate decision.
The intermediate standard, which usually employs some combination of the words "clear," "cogent," "unequivocal" and "convincing," is less commonly used, but nonetheless "is no stranger to the civil law." Woodby v. INS, 385 U. S. 276 , 385 U. S. 285 (1966). See also C. McCormick, Evidence § 320 (1954); 9 J. Wigmore, Evidence § 2498 (3d ed.1940). One typical use of the standard is in civil cases involving allegations of fraud or some other quasi-criminal wrongdoing by the defendant. The interests at stake in those cases are deemed to be more substantial than mere loss of money, and some jurisdictions accordingly reduce the risk to the defendant of having his reputation tarnished erroneously by increasing the plaintiff's burden of proof. Similarly, this Court has used the "clear, unequivocal and convincing" standard of proof to protect particularly important individual interests in various civil cases. See, e.g., Woodby v. INS, supra at 385 U. S. 285 (deportation); Chaunt v. United States, 364 U. S. 350 , 364 U. S. 353 (1960) (denaturalization); Schneiderman v. United States, 320 U. S. 118 , 320 U. S. 125 , 320 U. S. 159 (1943) (denaturalization) .
In considering what standard should govern in a civil commitment proceeding, we must assess both the extent of the individual's interest in not being involuntarily confined indefinitely and the state's interest in committing the emotionally disturbed under a particular standard of proof. Moreover, we must be mindful that the function of legal process is to minimize the risk of erroneous decisions. See Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U. S. 319 , 424 U. S. 335 (1976); Speiser v. Randall, 357 U. S. 513 , 357 U. S. 525 -526 (1958).
There are significant reasons why different standards of proof are called for in civil commitment proceedings, as opposed to criminal prosecutions. In a civil commitment, state power is not exercised in a punitive sense. [ Footnote 4 ] Unlike the delinquency proceeding in Winship, a civil commitment proceeding can in no sense be equated to a criminal prosecution. Cf. Woodby v. INS, 385 U.S. at 385 U. S. 284 -285.
In addition, the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard historically has been reserved for criminal cases. This unique standard of proof, not prescribed or defined in the Constitution, is regarded as a critical part of the "moral force of the criminal law," In re Winship, 397 U.S. at 397 U. S. 364 , and we should hesitate to apply it too broadly or casually in noncriminal cases. Cf. ibid.
Patterson v. New York, supra at 386 U. S. 208 . Nor should the state be required to employ a standard of proof that may completely undercut its efforts to further the legitimate interests of both the state and the patient that are served by civil commitments.
-- to adopt the criminal law standard [ Footnote 5 ] gives no assurance that the more stringent standard of proof is needed or is even adaptable to the needs of all states. The essence of federalism is that states must be free to develop a variety of solutions to problems, and not be forced into a common, uniform mold. As the substantive standards for civil commitment may vary from state to state, procedures must be allowed to vary so long as they meet the constitutional minimum. See Monahan & Wexler, A Definite Maybe: Proof and Probability in Civil Commitment, 2 Law & Human Behavior 37, 41-42 (1978); Share, The Standard of Proof in Involuntary Civil Commitment Proceedings, 1977 Detroit College L.Rev. 209, 210. We conclude that it is unnecessary to require states to apply the strict criminal standard.
In Woodby v. INS, 385 U. S. 276 (1966), dealing with deportation, and Schneiderman v. United States, 320 U.S. at 320 U. S. 125 , 320 U. S. 159 , dealing with denaturalization, the Court held that "clear, unequivocal, and convincing" evidence was the appropriate standard of proof. The term "unequivocal," taken by itself, means proof that admits of no doubt, [ Footnote 9 ] a burden approximating, if not exceeding, that used in criminal cases. The issues in Schneiderman and Woodby were basically factual, and therefore susceptible of objective proof, and the consequences to the individual were unusually drastic -- loss of citizenship and expulsion from the United States.
We noted earlier that the trial court employed the standard of "clear, unequivocal and convincing" evidence in appellant's commitment hearing before a jury. That instruction was constitutionally adequate. However, determination of the precise burden equal to or greater than the "clear and convincing" standard which we hold is required to meet due process guarantees is a matter of state law which we leave to the Texas Supreme Court. [ Footnote 10 ] Accordingly, we remand the case for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
We noted earlier the court's holding on harmless error. See supra at 441 U. S. 422 .

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