Ashcroft v. Psychiatric Security Review Board

The issue in this case is whether, for purposes of ORS 161.295, alcohol dependence is a “mental disease or defect” or, instead, is a “personality disorder.” The Court of Appeals held that it was a personality disorder. For reasons that this court set out at greater length in Tharp v. PSRB, 338 Or 413, 110 P3d 103 (2005), we similarly conclude that alcohol dependence is a personality disorder as that term is used in ORS 161.295(2) and that, therefore, it is not a mental disease or defect. Accordingly, we affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.

In January 2002, a trial court found…