Working with Persons Involved in the Legal System Who Are Deaf.

Between 2006 and 2016, the team at Whiting Forensic Hospital saw seven defendants who were deaf or hard of hearing for restoration to competence to stand trial. As a result of this experience, the team developed expertise in understanding Deaf Culture, the effects of hearing loss on psychological development and evaluation and treatment techniques for this population. Based on the team's experiences, we discuss best practices to ensure that deaf defendants have the same access as hearing persons to fair treatment by the legal system and to the education and treatment required for restoration.

The Connecticut Experience with Sell Legislation.

Since 2004, Connecticut has had two different mechanisms for involuntary medication of defendants hospitalized for restoration of competence to stand trial. In this article, we first describe the development of these two mechanisms and compare their procedural elements. The first procedure required a hearing in criminal court, in a process parallel to the subsequent U.S. Supreme Court holding in Sell v. United States; the later procedure uses a civil mechanism in probate court and was enacted in response to the dicta in Sell regarding the preferential use of alternate mechanisms for involuntary medication orders. To compare the effectiveness and efficiency of the two mechanisms, we examined 1,455 admissions to the state's secure forensic hospital for competency restoration for the calendar years 2005 through 2011. Petitions for involuntary medication of defendants were filed in five cases in criminal court (0.3%) and in 177 cases (12.2%) in probate court. The probate mechanism resulted in a significantly shorter duration of the resolution of the competence matter. Both mechanisms were effective at restoring defendants' competency (i.e., two thirds were restored by the criminal court process, and nearly 74% were restored in the civil process).