Is this patient competent to stand trial? How to evaluate mentally ill criminal court defendants
– Article review
In 8-15 % of felony cases involving patients with a history of depression, defense counsels raise the question of whether their clients are competent to stand trial. This arises from issues such as previous history mental illness or difficulties in cooperating with the client. When such situations arise, the judge may request for an independent evaluation of the client.
Assessing competency to stand trial may involve the use of a number of assessment tools. For example, the MacArthur Competency Assessment Tool is one of the instruments used to determine the ability to understand issues around the trial. In other cases, a new tool known as Evaluation of Competency to Stand Trial-revised maybe used. Although the tools may differ slightly, the key objective remains determination of factual understanding and decisional competency.
In most cases, a history of depression, as well as evidence of mental illness, is one of the first criterions used to consider the competency to stand trial. However, the evidence of psychotic problems alone is not a sufficient parameter for declaring someone incompetent to stand trial. Therefore, further measures such as interviewing the individual or carrying or forensic evolution may be necessary.
These measures help to determine whether the individual understands the nature of the charges before the court, the severity of the charges, and whether he/she can offer a plea. Again, the interview and the forensic evaluation help to determine whether the individual can assist the counsel in defense. In the cases whereby the depressed individual cannot have logical and coherent discussions with the counsel (free of paranoia), then, this can be enough grounds to request for the termination of the case.
As much as everyone should be treated equally before the law, some cases require forensic evaluation to determine whether the accused can stand trial. This may be necessary when the accused has a clear history of depression, or other mental illnesses. The premise behind this reasoning is that the accused should be competent to stand trial. In the occurrence of such scenarios arise, the use of assessment tools such as the MacArthur Competency Assessment Tool maybe necessary.
Reference
West, S., & Noffsinger, S. (2006). Is this patient competent to stand trial? :How to evaluate
mentally ill criminal court defendants. Current Psychiatry , 5 (6), 140-143. Retrived
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