Specifying "Criminalization" of the Mentally Disordered Misdemeanant

with mental disorder and the treatment of those held criminally responsible.' Furthermore, as other forms of social control wane, the criminal justice system is expected to fill the void, a situation that will unduly tax not only the operation of the criminal justice system, but also the meaning and the symbolic value of criminal responsibility.2 Recently, these two familiar observations have re-surfaced and merged with a specific focus: the mentally disordered in the criminal justice system. Theorists claim that reforms in law and policy governing civil commitment have introduced a new class of mentally