Involuntary hospitalization criteria
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Heller v. Doe Ex Rel. Doe (1993)
Most recently applied in United States v. Christopher Perkins (May 2023)
L 1984, c 188, pt of §3; am L 1985, c 75, §2; am L 1986, c 335, §4; am L 2013, c 221, §§5, 24; am L 2016, c 114, §6; am L 2025, c 219, §6
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
An individual may be committed to a psychiatric facility for involuntary hospitalization if the court finds:
(1) That the individual is mentally ill or suffering from substance abuse;
(2) That the individual is imminently dangerous to self or others; and
(3) That the individual is in need of care or treatment, or both, and there is no suitable alternative available through existing facilities and programs that would be less restrictive than hospitalization.
Official source: Hawaii State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Hawaii statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.