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Law Library of Congress to Commemorate Constitution Day

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At noon on Wednesday, September 7, 2016, the Law Library of Congress will host an event featuring board-certified forensic psychiatrist Dr. Robert Maman. Dr. Maman will discuss the rights of persons living with mental illness in the United States.

Credit: iStock.com/Robert Smart

The discussion will take place in room LJ-119 of the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public; tickets are not required.

This public event will serve as the Law Library’s annual commemoration of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. Although officially established in its current form in 2004, Constitution Day and Citizenship Day traces its roots back to 1952, when Congress passed H.J.Res 314. This law (ch. 49, 66 Stat. 9) designated September 17th of each year as Citizenship Day in commemoration of the signing of the U.S. Constitution and “in recognition of all who, by coming of age or by naturalization, have attained the full status of citizenship.” This law also directed the president to annually issue a proclamation honoring this day and calling citizens to observe the day with appropriation ceremonies. As directed by this law, President Truman issued Proclamation 2984 on July 25, 1952.

Dr. Maman will address modern-day perspectives on the care and treatment of the mentally ill in terms of their status within the criminal justice system, and new developments—driven in great part by constitutional concerns—to ensure that the mentally ill are treated with proper medical care.

He will also discuss issues of privacy and security relating to the mentally ill within the criminal justice system. Finally, he will explore how social issues relating to trauma of combat and abuse of prescription drugs are being handled in light of civil-rights considerations.

Dr. Maman has held various posts in the areas of mental health and criminal justice. Originally from France, Dr. Maman completed his residency in psychiatry at Temple University in Philadelphia and a fellowship in forensic psychiatry at the Oregon Health Science University in Portland.

He is a graduate of the Washington College of Law at American University and is admitted to the District of Columbia and the United States Patent bars. He is member of the American Bar Association and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

Dr. Maman has had a longstanding interest in areas such as addiction and mental health, and was the founder of an innovative addiction treatment program called “Blue Gate” for the State of Maryland. He was also the medical director at the Patuxent (Maryland) correctional facility. Recently, Dr. Maman served on a Montgomery County, Maryland, task force that was directed to develop a mental-health adjudication process for the county. Dr. Maman retired from state service in December 2015, and currently directs the outpatient clinic of Omni House in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

We hope you can join us! For those not able to attend the program, we will have a member of the In Custodia Legis team live tweet the event via @LawLibCongress, using #ConstitutionDay.

Update: Video of the program added below.

 

Comments (5)

  1. I live too far to attend in person. How would I be able to listen?

    • Hi, Sarita! We will post the video to our blog after the event. We will also live tweet the event via Twitter @LawLibCongress.

  2. It would be a wonderful public service if Dr. Maman presentation were recorded and posted for later viewing on the web.

    • Thanks for your interest in our event, Pat! We plan to videotape this event. When the video becomes available we will post it to our blog and send the video link via our Twitter @LawLibCongress.

  3. I won’t be able to attend this either, but I would really like to not only see the video, but if possible, get some resources on this to read.

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