http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab004408.html

Summary

The evidence found in this review suggests that compulsory community treatment may not be an effective alternative to standard care.

We examined the effectiveness of compulsory community treatment for people with severe mental illness through a systematic review of all relevant randomised controlled clinical trials. Only two relevant trials were found and these provided little evidence of efficacy on any outcomes such as health service use, social functioning, mental state, quality of life or satisfaction with care. No data were available for cost and unclear presentation of data made it impossible to assess the effect on mental state and most aspects of satisfaction with care. In terms of numbers needed to treat, it would take 85 outpatient commitment orders to prevent one readmission, 27 to prevent one episode of homelessness and 238 to prevent one arrest.