Mental Health Law in China A Socio-legal Analysis

This book provides an important critique of mental health law and practice in China, with a focus on involuntary detention and treatment. The work explores China’s mental health law reform regarding treatment decision-making in the new era of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It adopts a socio-legal approach, not only by undertaking a comprehensive desk-based analysis of the reforms introduced by China’s Mental Health Law (MHL) but also examining its implementation based on evidence from practice. The book seeks to investigate whether China’s first national MHL takes a step closer to the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on mental health treatment decision-making, and, if not, why not? The book will be of interest to those working in the areas of mental health law and policy, medical law and disability, human rights law, and Asian Studies.

Foreword by Gerard Quinn 1 Introduction 2 Evaluative Framework and International Human Rights Law 3 Background: Mental Health Services and the Legal System in China 4 China’s Mental Health Law Reform: A Doctrinal Review 5 Law in Action: Medical Practice and Judicial Response 6 Shared Power and Silenced Service Users 7 Conclusion and Recommendations

Bo Chen is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law, Macau University of Science and Technology.