Foucha v. Louisiana
Encyclopedia
Foucha v. Louisiana, 504 U.S. 71
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...

 (1992), was a U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 case in which the court addressed the criteria for the continued commitment
Involuntary commitment
Involuntary commitment or civil commitment is a legal process through which an individual with symptoms of severe mental illness is court-ordered into treatment in a hospital or in the community ....

 of an individual who had been found not guilty by reason of insanity. The individual remained involuntarily confined on the justification that he was potentially dangerous even though he no longer suffered from the mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...

 that served as a basis for his original commitment.

Circumstances

Petitioner Terry Foucha was charged with aggravated burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...

 and illegal discharge of a firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...

. He burglarized a home after the occupants fled and discharged a firearm in the direction of a law enforcement officer. Initially he was evaluated as incompetent
Competency evaluation (law)
In the United States criminal justice system, a competency evaluation is an assessment of the ability of a defendant to understand and rationally participate in a court process....

 to proceed to trial because he was unable to distinguish right from wrong at the time of the offense. When he later was evaluated as competent, he was tried and found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was committed to East Feliciana State Hospital (La Maximum Secure) on the grounds that he had a mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...

 and was dangerous.

Under Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 law, a criminal defendant found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...

 will remain there until the hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

 review committee recommends that he be released. If the review committee recommends release, then the trial court must hold a hearing to determine whether he is dangerous to himself or others. If he is found to be dangerous, he may be returned to the hospital whether or not he is currently mentally ill. The committee
Committee
A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...

 met and stated that it could not guarantee that Foucha would not be a danger to himself or others.

Therefore, the state court ordered petitioner Foucha to return to the mental institution to which he had been committed, ruling that he was dangerous. The decision was based on a doctor's testimony that, although Foucha had recovered from the drug induced psychosis for which he was committed, he continued to be diagnosed as having an antisocial personality
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...

, a condition that is not a mental illness and is not considered treatable. Foucha had been involved in several fights within the facility which doctors felt might indicate he might pose a danger if released. The court stated the burden of proof rested on Foucha to prove that he was not a danger to himself or others.

Appeal

Foucha petitioned the court on a writ of certiorari. The State Court of Appeals refused petitioner Foucha's writs and the Louisiana Supreme Court
Louisiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans....

 affirmed, holding, among other things, that per Jones v. United States
Jones v. United States (1983)
Jones v. United States, is a United States Supreme Court case in which the court, for the first time, addressed whether the United States Constitution allows a defendant, who has been found not guilty by reason of insanity of a misdemeanor crime, to be involuntarily confined to a mental...

Foucha's release was not required. The court ruled that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...

 was not violated by the statutory provision permitting confinement of an insanity acquittee based on dangerousness alone, although dangerous alone in the absence of a mental illness would not satisfy the standards for a civil commitment.

Ruling

The United States Supreme Court ruled that potential dangerousness was not a justification to retain a person found not guilty by reason of insanity if no mental illness was present. James P. Manasseh argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs was Martin E. Regan, Jr. [504 U.S. 71, 73] An acquittee cannot be confined as a mental patient without some medical justification for doing so. Although the individual may be dangerous, the court ruled that a person committed on the basis of an insanity defense and who has regained his sanity cannot continue to be confined on the sole justification that he remains dangerous. A (formerly) insane acquittee must remain both ill and dangerous to continue to be involuntarily committed. This ruling also applies to convicted persons. "There is no conceivable basis for distinguishing the commitment of a person who is nearing the end of a penal term from all other commitments."

Therefore, the State of Louisiana was not justified in retaining the petitioner unless it could prove that serious public safety concerns existed to justify the acquittee's continuing classification as dangerous.

Significance

The court clarified that if the justification for commitment after an insanity acquittal no longer applies, the individual is to be released. To maintain that an insanity acquittee remain civilly committed to a psychiatric institution until he is no longer a danger to himself or others is unconstitutional. In this case the basis for commitment was that the defendant was both not responsible due to a mental illness and was dangerous. If he no longer suffers from a mental illness, then there is no justification to detain him. States must maintain the same standard for involuntarily committed insanity acquittees as they do for civilly committed individuals. Commitment must be based on standard principles of civil commitment, including proving that the individual is mentally ill. Commitment cannot be an automatic consequence of the acquittal.

See also

  • List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 504
  • List of United States Supreme Court cases
  • Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume
  • List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Rehnquist Court
  • Jackson v. Indiana
    Jackson v. Indiana
    Jackson v. Indiana was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that determined a state violated due process by involuntarily committing a criminal defendant for an indefinite period of time solely on the basis of his permanent incompetency to stand trial on the charges filed against...

  • Jones v. United States (1983)
    Jones v. United States (1983)
    Jones v. United States, is a United States Supreme Court case in which the court, for the first time, addressed whether the United States Constitution allows a defendant, who has been found not guilty by reason of insanity of a misdemeanor crime, to be involuntarily confined to a mental...

  • Addington v. Texas
    Addington v. Texas
    Addington v. Texas , , is a U.S. Supreme Court landmark case that set the standard for involuntary commitment for treatment by raising the burden of proof required to commit persons for psychiatric treatment from the usual civil burden of proof of "preponderance of the evidence" to "clear and...


External links

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