A risk panel is a body that determines whether a person's mental illness causes him to be too much of a risk to society to be released from involuntary 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 ....

. In the United States, the members of a risk panel may consist of medical officers appointed by the warden or superintendent of an institution, the U.S. Attorney General, and the United States Public Health Service

United States Public Health Service

The Public Health Service Act of 1944 structured the United States Public Health Service as the primary division of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare , which later became the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The PHS comprises all Agency Divisions of Health and...

. The Food and Drug Administration

Food and Drug Administration

The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

also has a risk panel, a 15-member advisory panel to educate consumers about the risks and benefits of drugs, devices and vaccines.