This leading textbook provides a comprehensive treatment of the law governing people with mental disability and the mental health professions. The fifth edition continues to provide teachable and thought-provoking legal, clinical and empirical materials for a number of different courses, including mental disability law, law and the mental health professions, and criminal mental health law. New with this edition are extensive materials on the Virginia Tech shooting, the Supreme Court opinions in Clark v. Arizona, Panetti v. Quarterman, and Indiana v. Edwards and recent case law on the right to refuse treatment, as well as updates on federal confidentiality rules; expertise/Daubert issues; civil commitment; competency, sexual predator, and capital sentencing law; and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the ADA.