Court-reported competence to proceed data across the United States.

Objective: Competence to proceed (CTP) is a constitutional protection intended to facilitate fairness and dignity of court proceedings. Researchers have estimated that between 60,000 and 94,000 defendants are evaluated for CTP each year. Yet no research has systematically identified the number of evaluations conducted each year, despite their critical role and many profound implications.

The MacCAT-CA and the ECST-R in Competency to Stand Trial Evaluations: A Critical Review and Practical Implications.

There is debate regarding the utility of standardized instruments in the assessment of competence to stand trial (CST). Though the field generally has a positive view of the second-generation nomothetic instruments available, the frequency of use falls far behind this favorable impression. The current paper reviewed two standardized instruments used in CST evaluations, the Evaluation of Competency to Stand Trial - Revised (ECST-R) and the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA).

Competence to stand trial and criminalization: an overview of the research.

Beginning in the 1960s, a steady decline in the number of inpatient psychiatric beds has occurred across the United States, primarily as a result of stricter civil commitment criteria and a societal movement toward deinstitutionalization. Concomitant with this decrease in psychiatric beds has been a steady increase in the number of mentally ill individuals who are arrested and processed through the criminal justice system as defendants. One consequence of this has been an explosion in the number of defendants referred for evaluations of their present mental state-adjudicative competence-and subsequently found incompetent and ordered to complete a period of competency restoration.

Using the Internet for collateral information in forensic mental health evaluations.

There is a burgeoning literature regarding using Internet-based data in employment, university admissions, and healthcare settings, but such pertaining to forensic mental health assessment (FMHA) contexts is only beginning to develop and professional ethics codes have yet to address these issues in depth. We present the first empirical investigation of mental health and related professionals' (n = 139) attitudes and practices regarding using Internet data in forensic and therapeutic contexts. Respondents reported their experiences and levels of agreement with items measuring beliefs and attitudes toward using Internet-based data in various professional situations (e.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and competency to stand trial (CST): Suggestions for a 'best practices' approach to forensic evaluation.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), an umbrella term for neurodevelopmental conditions caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, is overrepresented in the U.S. juvenile and adult criminal justice systems.

Psychiatric patients' comprehension of Miranda rights.

Seventy-five psychiatric inpatients were evaluated with respect to their Miranda-related abilities using Grisso's (1998, Instruments for assessing understanding and appreciation of Miranda rights. Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Press) instruments and Goldstein's (2002, Revised instruments for assessing understanding and appreciation of Miranda rights) revision to determine: whether different versions of Miranda warnings translate into differences in understanding; the influence of psychiatric symptoms, diagnostic categories, and IQ upon Miranda comprehension; and the relative performance of persons with psychiatric impairment on Miranda-relevant abilities. Results indicated that although the Miranda language used in Goldstein's revision generally showed lower grade reading levels and higher reading ease scores than Grisso's original instruments, this did not translate into improved understanding.

Validation of an abbreviated version of the structured interview of reported symptoms in outpatient psychiatric and community settings.

This study examined the effectiveness of an abbreviated version of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS-A) in identifying malingered mental illness. The SIRS-A is comprised of 69 items drawn from the SIRS (R. Rogers et al.

Competence-related abilities and psychiatric symptoms: an analysis of the underlying structure and correlates of the MacCAT-CA and the BPRS.

The current study used confirmatory factor analysis to examine the factor structures of two instruments commonly used in the assessment of competency to stand trial--the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool--Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA) and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Results revealed support for the three-subscale factor structure of the MacCAT-CA defined by the authors of the instrument; for a slightly altered three-factor structure defined by Zapf, Skeem, and Golding (2005, Psychological Assessment, 17, 433-445); and for the four symptom clusters of the BPRS as defined by Hedlund and Vieweg (1980, Journal of Operational Psychiatry, 11, 48-63). In addition, exploratory factor analysis of all 24 items of the BPRS revealed a five-factor structure.

Adjudicative competence and comprehension of Miranda rights in adolescent defendants: a comparison of legal standards.

Currently, there is considerable variability and ambiguity in legal standards pertaining to juveniles' comprehension of Miranda rights and their adjudicative competence. This study investigated rates of impairment under various proposed legal standards. One hundred and fifty-two young defendants aged 11-17 were assessed with Grisso's Miranda Instruments and the Fitness Interview Test-Revised.

Factor structure and validity of the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication.

Examination of the available literature regarding the development of the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA) reveals 2 theoretical factor structures on which the MacCAT-CA was based: one in which 3 lower-order constructs are proposed (understanding, reasoning, appreciation) and one in which 2 higher-order constructs are proposed (competence to assist counsel and decisional competence). Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted with the MacCAT-CA's original normative sample (N = 729) to test both the relative fit of these 2 theoretical factor structures and models that combine the 2 factor structures. Analyses were also completed to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of the MacCAT-CA.

An investigation of the construct of competence: a comparison of the FIT, the MacCAT-CA, and the MacCAT-T.

The 1990s witnessed Supreme Court decisions in both Canada and the United States on issues of competence that went against longstanding case law, psychological research, and common sense. These decisions held that there is to be one standard for all types of criminal competencies. The present research attempts to investigate whether this is an appropriate assumption and thus tests whether there are one or more constructs that underlie different types of competence.

Predictor variables in competency to stand trial decisions.

Clinicians possess significant discretion in competency to stand trial assessment. Therefore, it is paramount to explore the contribution of individual variables to ensure that the decision-making process is devoid of bias and solely relates to the legal criterion. To test for the possibility of bias in clinical decision-making, we examined the predictive efficiency of clinical, criminological, and sociodemographic variables in a sample of 468 criminal defendants referred for competency evaluations.

Issues and considerations regarding the use of assessment instruments in the evaluation of competency to stand trial.

Since the early 1960s, a number of instruments, reflecting a broad range of assessment methods, have been developed to assist in the evaluation of competency to stand trial. These instruments have taken various forms including checklists, self-report questionnaires, sentence-completion tasks, and interview-based instruments with and without criterion-based scoring. This article reviews these assessment instruments with a specific focus on their contribution to the competency evaluation process.

Competency restoration: an examination of the differences between defendants predicted restorable and not restorable to competency.

According to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Jackson v.

Assessment of competency for execution: professional guidelines and an evaluation checklist.

The issue of whether mental health professionals should be involved in conducting evaluations of competency for execution is a topic that has elicited controversy and heated debate. This article picks up at a point beyond the controversy and addresses issues of professionalism and the objective assessment of competency for execution. Specifically, this article identifies professional standards for conducting competence for execution (CFE) evaluations, describes current practices in this area, and provides an interview checklist that can be used as an evaluation guide by involved professionals.

Interrater reliability of the Fitness Interview Test across 4 professional groups.

Objective: This study investigated the interrater reliability of the Fitness Interview Test (FIT), revised edition, a semistructured interview that assesses fitness to stand trial.

Method: Physicians, forensic psychologists, nurses, and graduate students in psychology were trained in the FIT, and they subsequently viewed 2 videotaped interviews of actual fitness assessments. Using the FIT, they rated the fitness of each defendant portrayed in the videotapes.

An examination of the relationship between competency to stand trial, competency to waive interrogation rights, and psychopathology.

This study compared the legal abilities of defendants (N = 212) with current primary psychotic disorders (n = 44), affective disorders (n = 42), substance abuse disorders (n = 54), and no diagnosed major mental illness (n = 72). Defendants with primary psychotic disorders demonstrated more impairment than did other defendants in their understanding of interrogation rights, the nature and object of the proceedings, the possible consequences of proceedings, and their ability to communicate with counsel. Psychosis was of limited value as a predictor however, and high rates of legal impairment were found even in defendants with no diagnosed major mental illness.