In Alaska, health care professionals and legal experts said the distinctive demographic, geographic and cultural stamp of the state also colors the often nuanced judgments that doctors, law enforcement officers and judges must make in deciding whether to hold a disturbed person against his or her will.
Alaska, they said, is ingrained with a deep tradition of tolerance — fueled by libertarian instincts holding that people should be able to believe what they want, however eccentric or irrational. And even when people are involuntarily committed for treatment, the
median length of stay, at only five days, is shorter than in almost any other state.
