Florida Statute 394 Law: The Florida Mental Health Act

The Florida Mental Health Act commonly known as “Baker Act.” This policy is found in the Florida Statute 394 and became effective on 1972. The Baker Act Law was name after Maxine Baker a former State representative from Miami whom sponsored the act. The law and treatment of mental illness in the state of Florida dates back to 1874 by government statutes. In 1971the Florida legislature enacted Florida Mental Health Act. This was a comprehensive revision of Florida’s mental health 97-year-old law. The Baker Act Law and multiple legislative amendments have been enacted to protect society and individuals. The 394 Law was designed to protect the civil right and due process of a person’s in mental health facilities. Florida Representative Maxine
Also, mental illness could be defined as a group of disorders the affects the brain chemistry affecting the person cognitive functioning, feelings and behaving which is associated with distress or disability. It is not a part of a normal development or in a
The criteria and procedure for an involuntary inpatient detention, examination inpatient and outpatient placement is as follows. The term Baker Act allows for a person to be pick up and transported to a crisis receiving facility for an involuntary psychiatric exam. In order for a law enforcement officers to detain a person one of the three criteria is needed; first, the officer’s personal recorded observations, police may detain and transport a person for involuntary examination if there is a reason to believe she/he has a mental illness, defined as “impairment of the mental or emotional processes that exercise conscious control [over the person’s] action or of the ability to perceive or understand reality which impairment substantially interferes with the person ability to meet the ordinary demands of living” (Clausen, 2014, p. 14 ). Second, order by the court or Ex-parte which is a petition for involuntary examination request by a family member who has observed the behavior and can describe the action of the person that cause them to believe that the family member is mental ill (Mental Health Program Office & Department of Mental Health Law & Policy,