What is involuntary outpatient commitment?
Involuntary outpatient commitment (IOC) (also referred to as assisted outpatient treatment) is a form of civil commitment in which the court orders an individual to follow a specific treatment plan while he or she lives in the community. Currently, 41 states have involuntary commitment program options, and on January 1, 2005, a Florida law will go into effect to make it the 42nd state. This policy was developed partly in response to highly publicized acts of violence that have been committed by a small number of individuals with serious mental illness. Widespread disagreement exists as to whether these acts were due to the lack of available mental health treatment or poor compliance with mental health treatment, particularly failure to take psychiatric mediation. Research studies have found that individuals with serious mental illness do not have a higher risk for violence than the general population. Individuals with a mental illness who also have a substance abuse problem are more li
