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20-47-210. Immediate confinement — Initial evaluation and treatment.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-47-210. Immediate confinement — Initial evaluation and treatment.
(a) Whenever it appears that a person is of danger to himself or herself or others, as defined in § 20-47-207, and immediate confinement appears necessary to avoid harm to the person or others:
(1) An interested citizen may take the person to a hospital or to a receiving facility or program. If no other safe means of transporting the individual is available, it shall be the responsibility of the law enforcement agency that exercises jurisdiction at the site where the individual is physically located and requiring transportation, or unless otherwise ordered by the judge. A petition, as provided in § 20-47-207, shall be filed in the circuit court of the county in which the person resides or is detained within seventy-two (72) hours, excluding weekends and holidays, and a hearing, as provided in § 20-47-209(a)(1) shall be held; or
(2) Any person filing a petition for involuntary admission may append to the petition a request for immediate confinement which shall state with particularity facts personally known to the affiant which establish reasonable cause to believe that the person sought to be involuntarily admitted is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm or that the lives of others are in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm due to the mental state of the person sought to be involuntarily admitted.
(b)(1) When a petition for involuntary admission with a request for immediate confinement appended thereto is filed, the petitioner shall then appear before a circuit judge of the county where the person sought to be immediately confined resides or is found.
(2) The circuit judge shall then conduct an ex parte hearing for the purpose of determining whether there is reasonab
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-210
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.
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Stable record: arkansas_code:legal_authorities:20-47-210
Source file: gov.ar.code.title.20.odt
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: bf334214b06505b55f0104ade97e8373e7428f9bf72fe1a5b70da3aa22521357
Source location: content.xml paragraph 26883
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20-47-210. Immediate confinement — Initial evaluation and treatment.
(a) Whenever it appears that a person is of danger to himself or herself or others, as defined in § 20-47-207, and immediate confinement appears necessary to avoid harm to the person or others:
(1) An interested citizen may take the person to a hospital or to a receiving facility or program. If no other safe means of transporting the individual is available, it shall be the responsibility of the law enforcement agency that exercises jurisdiction at the site where the individual is physically located and requiring transportation, or unless otherwise ordered by the judge. A petition, as provided in § 20-47-207, shall be filed in the circuit court of the county in which the person resides or is detained within seventy-two (72) hours, excluding weekends and holidays, and a hearing, as provided in § 20-47-209(a)(1) shall be held; or
(2) Any person filing a petition for involuntary admission may append to the petition a request for immediate confinement which shall state with particularity facts personally known to the affiant which establish reasonable cause to believe that the person sought to be involuntarily admitted is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm or that the lives of others are in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm due to the mental state of the person sought to be involuntarily admitted.
(b)(1) When a petition for involuntary admission with a request for immediate confinement appended thereto is filed, the petitioner shall then appear before a circuit judge of the county where the person sought to be immediately confined resides or is found.
(2) The circuit judge shall then conduct an ex parte hearing for the purpose of determining whether there is reasonable cause to believe that the person meets the criteria for involuntary admission and, furthermore, that the person is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm or that others are in danger of death or serious bodily harm due to the mental condition of the person sought to be involuntarily admitted.
(3) If the circuit judge determines that immediate confinement is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily harm to either the person sought to be involuntarily admitted or to others, the judge shall order the law enforcement agency that exercises jurisdiction at the site where the individual is physically present to transport the individual to an appropriate receiving facility. A hearing, as provided for in § 20-47-209(a)(1), shall be held within seventy-two (72) hours of the person's detention and confinement.
(c) If the person is transported to a hospital or to a receiving facility or program or to the office of a licensed physician of the State of Arkansas or of the United States Government, either salaried or self-employed, for purposes of initial evaluation and treatment, then the hospital or receiving facility or program or physician may detain the person for initial evaluation and treatment provided:
(1) The person is immediately advised of his or her rights as provided in § 20-47-211;
(2) The person is determined by the treatment staff of the hospital or receiving facility or program or by the physician to be of danger to himself or herself or others as defined in § 20-47-207; and
(3) A hearing pursuant to § 20-47-209(a)(1) is held within the specified time period.
(d) Nothing herein shall prevent the person so detained from being released sooner than the period specified in § 20-47-205 if in the judgment of the treatment staff of the hospital, of the receiving facility or program, or of the treating physician the person does not require further mental health treatment. The court shall be immediately advised in writing of the release and shall dismiss the action.
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Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-47-205. Jurisdiction of circuit court.
(a) The circuit courts of this state shall have exclusive jurisdiction of the involuntary admission procedures initiated pursuant to this subchapter.
(b)(1) Within seven (7) days of the person's detention, excluding weekends and holidays, the court shall conduct the hearing as defined in § 20-47-214.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d) of this section, the hearing, as defined by §§ 20-47-214 and 20-47-215, shall be conducted by the same court, or by a judge designated on exchange, who heard the original petition and issued the appropriate order.
(3) The court shall ensure that the person sought to be involuntarily admitted is afforded all his or her rights as prescribed by this subchapter.
(4) The circuit judge, when conducting any hearing set out in this subchapter, may conduct the hearing within any county of the judge's judicial district.
(c) The hearings conducted pursuant to §§ 20-47-209, 20-47-214, and 20-47-215 may be held at inpatient programs of the state mental health system or a receiving facility or program where the person is detained.
(d) A circuit judge of the Sixth Judicial District sitting within the Sixth Judicial District may conduct involuntary commitment hearings prescribed by §§ 20-47-214 and 20-47-215 and initiated in other judicial districts of this state pursuant to §§ 20-47-207 and 20-47-209 provided that the person sought to be committed is detained within the boundaries of the Sixth Judicial District at the time of the hearing held pursuant to §§ 20-47-214 or 20-47-215. The Sixth Judicial District shall thus assume the mantle of other judicial districts and shall have the authority to enter treatment orders for other judicial districts in the hearings prescribed by §§ 20-4
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-205
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-47-205. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-47-207. Involuntary admission — Original petition.
(a) Written Petition — Venue. Any person having reason to believe that a person meets the criteria for involuntary admission as defined in subsection (c) of this section may file a verified petition with the circuit clerk of the county in which the person alleged to have mental illness resides or is detained.
(b) Contents of Petition. The petition for involuntary admission shall:
(1) State whether the person is believed to be of danger to himself or herself or others as defined in subsection (c) of this section;
(2) Describe the conduct, clinical signs, and symptoms upon which the petition is based. The description shall be limited to facts within the petitioner's personal knowledge;
(3) Contain the names and addresses of any witnesses having knowledge relevant to the allegations contained in the petition; and
(4) Contain a specific prayer for involuntary admission of the person to a hospital or to a receiving facility or program for treatment pursuant to § 20-47-218(c).
(c)Involuntary Admission Criteria.
(1) A person shall be eligible for involuntary admission if he or she is in such a mental condition as a result of mental illness, disease, or disorder that he or she poses a clear and present danger to himself or herself or others.
(2) As used in this subsection, “a clear and present danger to himself or herself” is established by demonstrating that:
(A) The person has inflicted serious bodily injury on himself or herself or has attempted suicide or serious self-injury, and there is a reasonable probability that the conduct will be repeated if admission is not ordered;
(B) The person has threatened to inflict serious bodily injury on himself or herself, and there is a reasonable probability
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-207
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-47-207. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-47-209. Initial hearing — Failure to appear — Exceptions from appearance requirement.
(a) If the person named in the original petition is not confined at the time that the petition is filed, the court may:
(1) Enter an ex parte order directing a law enforcement officer to serve the person with a copy of the petition together with a notice to appear for an initial hearing. The hearing shall be set by the court within three (3) days, excluding weekends and holidays, of the filing of the original petition. If the person is duly served and fails to appear, the court shall issue an order of detention; or
(2) Dismiss the petition.
(b) The person named in the original petition is not required to appear and may be removed from the presence of the court upon a finding by the court that the person is:
(1) By reason of physical infirmity unable to appear;
(2) That the person's appearance would be detrimental to his or her mental health, well-being, or treatment; or
(3) That his or her conduct before the court is so disruptive that the proceedings cannot reasonably continue with him or her present.
(c)(1) The petitioner shall appear before the circuit judge hearing the petition to substantiate the petition.
(2) The court shall make a determination based on clear and convincing evidence that there is probable cause to believe that the person has a mental illness, disease, or disorder and that one (1) of the criteria for involuntary admission applies to the person.
(3) If such a determination is made, the person shall be admitted for evaluation, and a hearing pursuant to § 20-47-214 shall be held within the period specified in § 20-47-205.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-209
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-47-209. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-47-211. Notification of rights.
Along with the copy of the petition and the copy of the order directing appearance for an initial evaluation or an order of detention, the person sought to be involuntarily admitted shall be served with a copy of the following statement of rights:
(1) That he or she has the right to effective assistance of counsel, including the right to a court-appointed attorney;
(2) That he or she and his or her attorney have a right to be present at all significant stages of the proceedings and at all hearings except that no attorney shall be entitled to be present upon examination of the person by the physician or any member of the treatment staff pursuant to an evaluation, whether initially or subsequently;
(3) That he or she has the right to present evidence in his or her own behalf;
(4) That he or she has the right to cross-examine witnesses who testify against him or her;
(5) That he or she has a right to remain silent; and
(6) That he or she has a right to view and copy all petitions, reports, and documents contained in the court file.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-211
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-47-211. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.