Competency to stand trial evaluations in a multicultural population: Associations between psychiatric, demographic, and legal factors

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of law and psychiatry 2016-07, Vol.47, p.79-85
Main Authors: Paradis, Cheryl M., Owen, Elizabeth, Solomon, Linda Z., Lane, Benjamin, Gulrajani, Chinmoy, Fullar, Michael, Perry, Alan, Rai, Sasha, Lavy, Tamar, McCullough, Gene
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Competency
Competency to stand trial
Cultural Diversity
Demography
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Emigrants and Immigrants - legislation & jurisprudence
Emigrants and Immigrants - psychology
Female
Forensic evaluation
Humans
Intellectual Disability - diagnosis
Intellectual Disability - ethnology
Interdisciplinary Communication
Intersectoral Collaboration
Interview, Psychological
Male
Mental Competency - legislation & jurisprudence
Mental Competency - psychology
Mental Disorders - diagnosis
Mental Disorders - ethnology
Middle Aged
Observer Variation
Patient Care Team - legislation & jurisprudence
Psychotic Disorders - diagnosis
Psychotic Disorders - ethnology
Translating
United States
Urban Population
Young Adult
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0160-2527
1873-6386
DOI:10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.02.039