Competency to Stand Trial: Legal Issues and Developments in Assessment (2002)

Page 3

References

Appelbaum, K. L., & Appelbaum, P. S. (1994). Criminal-justice-related competencies in defendants with mental retardation. The Journal of Psychiatry & Law, Winter, 483-503.

Appelbaum, P. S. (1993). Godinez v. Moran: the U.S. Supreme Court considers competence to stand trial. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 44(10), 929-930.

Bonnie, R. J. (1992). The competence of criminal defendants: A theoretical formulation. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 10, 291-316.

Brakel, S. (1974). Presumption, bias, and incompetency in the criminal process. Wisconsin Law Review, 1105-1130.

Carbonell, J. L., Heilbrun, K., & Friedman, F. L. (1992). Predicting who will regain trial competency: Initial promise unfulfilled. Forensic Reports, 5, 67-76.

Cruise, K. R., & Rogers, R. (1998). An analysis of competency to stand trial: An integration of case law and clinical knowledge. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 16, 35-50.

Drope v. Missouri, 420 U.S. 12 (1975).

Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402 (1960).

Godinez v. Moran, 113 S.Ct. 810 (1992).

Grisso, T., Cocozza, J. J., Steadman, H. J., Fisher, W. H., & Greer, A. (1994). The organization of pretrial evaluation services: A national profile. Law and Human Behavior, 18(4), 377-393.

Jager, A. D. (2000). Fitness to stand trial: Court dispositions. Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, Nov, 7(2), 227-234.

Laboratory of Community Psychiatry (1973). Competency to stand trial and mental illness. (DHEW Publication No. ADM77-103). Rockville, MD: Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Melton, G. B., Petrilla, J., Poythress, N. G., & Slobogin, L. A. (1987). Psychological evaluations for the courts: A handbook for mental health professionals and lawyers. New York: Guilford Press.

Melton, G. B., Petrilla, J., Poythress, N. G., & Slobogin, L. A. (1997). Psychological evaluations for the courts: A handbook for mental health professionals and lawyers (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

Perlin, M. L. (1996). "Dignity was the first to leave":* Godinez v. Moran, Colin Ferguson, and the trial of mentally disabled criminal defendants. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 14, 61-81.

Poythress, N. G., Bonnie, R. J., Hoge, S. K., Monahan, J., & Oberlander, L. B. (1994). Client abilities to assist counsel and make decisions in criminal cases. Law and Human Behavior, 18(4), 437-452.

Poythress, N. G., Nicholson, R, Otto, R. K., Edens, J. F, Bonnie, R. J, Monihan, J., & Hoge, S. K. (1999). The MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication professional manual. Odessa, FL: PAR.

Riggins v. Nevada, 112 S.Ct 1810 (1992).

Skeem, J. L., & Golding, S. L. (1998). Community examiner's evaluations of competence to stand trial: Common problems and suggestions for improvement. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 9(4), 357-367.

Veiel, H. O. F., & Coles, E. M. (1999). Measuring unfitness to stand trial: Psychological analysis of a legal issue. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 44(4), 356-361.

Wilson v. U.S., 391 F.2d 460 (1968).

Winick, B. J. (1995). Reforming incompetency to stand trial and plead guilty: A restated proposal and response to Professor Bonnie. The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 85(3), 571-624.

Table 1
Elements of "Ability to Assist Attorney"

Competency Issue	Specific Knowledge or Ability	Ability Demonstrated?			Comments/Explanation
		Yes	No	Partial
Relationship with attorney	recognizes attorney as an ally
	appreciates attorney-client privilege
	confidence and trust in her current lawyer
	confidence and trust in lawyers in general
	able to communicate with attorney and work together
Capacity to disclose pertinent facts	can give reasonable account of the alleged offense
	can give reasonable account of others' behavior
	can give reasonable account of police behavior
	can report his/her understanding of Miranda warning (at time of arrest)
	can tell if confession was affected by mental illness
Capacity to participate in trial	capacity to follow trial events
	capacity to challenge witnesses (recognize distortions)
Capacity to present self positively in court	capacity to testify
	capacity to behave in a way helpful to own defense in court
Capacity to manage behavior	appreciation of appropriate court behavior
	capacity to control behavior and emotions

Table 2
Elements of "a Rational and Factual Understanding"

Competency Issue	Specific Knowledge or Ability	Ability Demonstrated?			Comments/Explanation
		Yes	No	Partial
Appreciates Charge	knows charge label
	can describe what charge means
	comprehends police version of events
Knows possible penalties	knows sentence label ("5 to life")
	appreciates seriousness of charge and penalties
Knowledge of basic strategies and options	understands pleas available (guilty, not guilty, etc.)
	understands legal issues and procedures relevant to current legal case
	understands legal defenses available
	has knowledge of plea bargaining process
Capacity to understand adversarial nature of court	knows roles of court personnel
	can utilize legal safeguards (i.e., 5th Amendment)
	knows sequence of court events
Capacity for reasoned choice	capacity to comprehend legal advice
	capacity to participate in planning defense
	capacity to reasonably appraise possible outcomes
	capacity to understand implications of plea bargain
	capacity to understand implications of acting as one's own attorney
	capacity to make reasoned choices about defense options

Page 1 | Page 2