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A Baker Act is a means of providing individuals with emergency services and temporary detention for mental health evaluation and treatment when required, either on a voluntary or an involuntary basis.

In New York, anyone can file a petition about someone else. You do not need a lawyer to file a petition. After a petition is filed, a judge will determine whether the person of concern is experiencing mental illness and engaging in disorderly conduct or conduct likely to result in serious harm to themselves or others.

If he or she confrms that you meet the requirements for emergency admission, you may be kept in the psychiatric center for up to 15 days. For you to be kept involuntarily beyond 15 days, you must meet the requirements for, and be converted to, an involuntary admission based on medical certifcation.

Late last year, New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued a directive that effectively grants police wide discretion to forcibly remove any person who “appears to be mentally ill and displays an inability to meet basic living needs” from streets and subways and transport them to the hospital.

New York's mental hygiene law, as it's written, allows police to take someone into custody for psychiatric evaluation if the person “appears" mentally ill and is “conducting himself" in a manner likely to "result in serious harm to the person or others.”

Like every state, New York has civil commitment laws that establish criteria for determining when involuntary treatment is appropriate for individuals with severe mental illness who cannot seek care voluntarily.

As part of NY's Mental Hygiene Law, the court may appoint a guardian for the incapacitated person to help them manage their financial and personal matters if they cannot do so themselves. It is the court's goal to allow the incapacitated person as much independence as possible in making their own decisions.