The Marchman Act procedure, the statute under which it’s governed, is civil in nature, as opposed to criminal. When you’re in criminal court, what’s at stake is potentially someone’s liberty. However, that being said, in order to give the court in a civil Marchman Act procedure some leverage over the person, in other words, to involuntarily get them to commit to doing treatment, they have civil contempt powers. In theory, the court can leverage the person into treatment with potentially six months incarceration hanging over their head. If the court finds that the person is non-compliant, they will then give the respondent the choice of either going into treatment or going into custody, and that’s the leverage that the court holds over the respondent’s head to get them to go into treatment.

Text Us

Contact Us

Call 561-419-6095 or fill out the form below to get in touch with one of our attorneys.

    100% Secure & Confidential