New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 14 - DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HYGIENE
Chapter XIII - Office of Mental Health
Part 540 - Patients Committed To The Custody Of The Commissioner Pursuant To Cpl Article 730
Section 540.1 - Statement of purpose

(a) The Office of Mental Health has a multifaceted responsibility in caring for patients committed to its custody by a criminal court after having been found to have a mental disease or defect which renders them incapable of understanding the criminal proceedings against them or assisting in their own defense. It must maintain custody of patients against whom criminal charges are pending; it must respect society's expectation that patients for whom criminal charges have been dismissed but who have demonstrated their propensity for violence will not be inappropriately released; it must respect the civil rights of patients who are not subject to criminal charges; and it must help patients make the therapeutic progress that will make continued hospitalization unnecessary and enable them to either face their accusers or be released.

(b) While criminal defendants are committed to the custody of the commissioner under court orders which vary in the degree to which they subject the patient to the continuing jurisdiction of the criminal court, many such patients have one thing in common. They have been accused of an act of violence. Research studies have demonstrated that one reliable indicator of future violent criminal behavior is past acts of criminal violence. A history of treatment for mental illness, in and of itself, has not been demonstrated to be related to violent behavior.

(c) While the office does not intend to hold patients accountable for crimes of which they have not been convicted, it believes that commitment to the custody of the commissioner pursuant to a criminal court order after having been accused of an act of violence is sufficient indication of a violent propensity to justify the precaution of confirming the clinical judgment of the patient's treatment team prior to releasing the patient or granting him furloughs. The office is therefore establishing regulations which require each of its facilities to establish a mechanism to ensure clinical review of criminal order patients to determine whether or not release, change of status or granting of a furlough is appropriate, thereby assuring that violent patients will not be inappropriately freed from custody.