ABSTRACT
In most states, minors facing psychiatric hospitalization do not enjoy all of the due process protections that adults facing psychiatric hospitalization enjoy. In many states, a minor may be hospitalized at the initiative of a parent or guardian, without the consent of the minor and without judicial review. The Supreme Court of the United States, as well as the states themselves, call such a hospitalization “voluntary,” an inaccurate but apt term because it reflects the Court's and the states’ deference to parental and medical authority, and the diminished liberty interest that minors are accorded relative to adults.
