3 ms·

If you're stalked, is it possible to ask the opinion of psychiatrists before starting legal procedures in order to give more credit to your claims ?

• btilly 14y ago
  No psychiatrist is going to institutionalize SOMEONE ELSE because of YOUR testimony. No legal procedures exist to put down a stalker until after an actual crime has been committed. Really, really, REALLY liking someone is not a crime.
  • thereticent 14y ago
    Almost true. In most cases of stalking, you're right, because there is no evidence of mental illness. To your point--no psychiatrist will institutionalize someone on your testimony, but a judge might. Depending on the state, a judge can send a person on a 72-hour court order to a psychiatric facility on the basis of an affidavit from a concerned party. If you can convince the judge, which in my state is apparently not difficult, the person wins a psychiatric admission.
    • btilly 14y ago
      I would receive advice from someone who has dealt with these issues before even thinking about such a course of advice. "Lock em up!" feels like a great idea. Until you wonder what happens between them hearing about it, and showing up in court. Or after they are released from the psychiatric admission. This is a plan that can backfire..badly.
  • masklinn 14y ago
    > No legal procedures exist to put down a stalker until after an actual crime has been committed. That's not really true without jurisdiction filter on the assertion: there are jurisdictions in which harassment itself is a crime (in all circumstances, not just for protected categories or e.g. in the workplace). For instance, the UK with the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
  • vacri 14y ago
    Psychiatrists can have more kinds of opinions than 'institutionalise this person'.