Who qualifies for rights?
Subtitle: homelessness, mental illness, and civil commitment
By: Judith Lynn Failer.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Ithaca [N.Y.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 200
Subjects: Insane -- Commitment and detention -- United States; Homeless persons -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- United States
Description: "When does a person become disqualified for some or all of the rights associated with full citizenship? Who does qualify for rights?".

"When mental health workers took Joyce Brown from her "home" on a New York City sidewalk and hospitalized her against her will, she defended herself by asserting her rights: to live where she wanted, to speak to the press to deride the city's policy, and to refuse unwanted psychiatric treatment. In theory, as a United States citizen, Brown possessed rights protecting her from governmental intrusion into her personal life. In practice, those rights were curtailed at the time of her civil commitment.".

"Using the case of Joyce Brown as an example, Judith Lynn Failer explores the theoretical, legal, and practical justifications for limiting the rights of people who are involuntarily hospitalized. By looking at the reasons law and theory say that some people diagnosed with mental illnesses no longer qualify for the full complement of constitutional rights, the author uncovers basic assumptions about who does, and who should, qualify for rights."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-195) and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. The civil commitment of Joyce Brown; title: 2. The theory behind civil commitment : rights and the mentally ill; title: 3. Legal status and civil commitment; title: 4. The history of commitment law in the United States; title: 5. The practice of civil commitment; title: 6. To qualify rights in civil commitment; title: 7. Conclusion : who qualifies for rights?