Spinning the revolving door: the governance of non-compliant psychiatric subjects on community treatment orders

This article examines the enactment of community treatment orders (CTOs) in Alberta, Canada to illustrate how civil law is used to constitute and govern psychiatric patients in the community. I argue that the logic of CTOs constitutes the psychiatric patient as a fractured subject who is simultaneou...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Klassen, Amy Lynn (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: [2017]
In: Theoretical criminology
Year: 2017, Volume: 21, Issue: 3, Pages: 361-379
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
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Keywords:
Agency
Discipline
Governance
Harm
Neo-liberalism
Non-compliance
Policy
Responsibilization
Risk
Description
Summary:This article examines the enactment of community treatment orders (CTOs) in Alberta, Canada to illustrate how civil law is used to constitute and govern psychiatric patients in the community. I argue that the logic of CTOs constitutes the psychiatric patient as a fractured subject who is simultaneously capable/incapable of making medical decisions and at risk/risky. These paradoxical characterizations highlight how depictions of rationality and choice are contingent on consenting to a pharmacological regime designed to normalize these patients. This construction functions to eliminate opportunities for rationally informed types of non-compliance and promotes hospitalization as the only way to manage harmful, risky and non-conforming individuals. I contend that CTOs are a flawed instrument of regulation that cannot manage ‘legally’ capable but non-compliant individuals.
ISSN:1461-7439
DOI:10.1177/1362480616646623