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Supreme Court Limits Permissible Scope of Government’s Ability to Force Medication of Mentally Ill Defendants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Mayelin Prieto-Gonzalez
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Extract

On June 16, 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that forced administration of antipsychotic drugs to a defendant facing serious criminal charges is appropriate in order to render that defendant competent to stand trial, but only in limited circumstances. The treatment must be medically appropriate, substantially unlikely to have side effects that may undermine the fairness of the trial, and necessary to significantly further important government interests, after taking account of less-intrusive alternatives.

Charles Sell, a former dentist, had a long history of mental illness. He had been hospitalized twice, in 1982 and 1984, after expressing paranoid ideas to law enforcement officials. In May 1997, Sell was charged with fifty-six counts of mail fraud, six counts of Medicaid fraud, and one count of money laundering. He was released on bail after a magistrate determined that he was currently competent to stand trial.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , Winter 2003 , pp. 737 - 739
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2003

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