Competency to stand trial evaluations in a multicultural population: Associations between psychiatric, demographic, and legal factors.
Int J Law Psychiatry
; 47: 79-85, 2016.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-27085728
ABSTRACT
Data were examined from an archival sample of Competency to Stand Trial (CST) reports of 200 consecutive New York City pre-trial defendants evaluated over a five-month period. Approximately a fourth of defendants in the present study were immigrants; many required the assistance of interpreters. The examiners conducting the CST evaluation diagnosed approximately half of the defendants with a primary diagnosis of a psychotic disorder and deemed over half not competent. Examiners reached the same conclusion about competency in 96% of cases, about the presence of a psychotic disorder in 91% of cases, and affective disorder in 85% of cases. No significant differences between psychologists and psychiatrists were found for rates of competency/incompetency opinions. Compared to those deemed competent, defendants deemed not competent had significantly higher rates of prior psychiatric hospitalization and diagnosis of psychotic illness at the time of the CST evaluation but lower rates of reported substance abuse.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Urban Population
/
Mental Competency
/
Cultural Diversity
/
Emigrants and Immigrants
/
Mental Disorders
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Int J Law Psychiatry
Year:
2016
Document type:
Article