Commitment of mentally disordered criminal offenders in the State of Maryland, USA: future dangerousness versus treatment amenability

The author critically reviews the diagnostic and commitment procedures at Maryland's Patuxent Institution from 1955 to the present. During this period, the institution operated under the authority of two quite different statutes. The intent of both was to provide confinement and treatment for offenders who are legally sane, but mentally disordered. Under the original law, offenders predicted to be dangerous were involuntarily subject to court commitments for indeterminate periods. Under the second law, offenders predicted to be amenable to treatment are confined on a voluntary basis only for as long as their original criminal sentences allow.