Fitness to Stand Trial: Contemporary Clinical Issues.

The assessment of fitness to stand trial in Australian jurisdictions has been grounded in the R v Presser criteria for more 60 years. However, a range of subsequent precedents has assisted expert witnesses to ensure that clinical assessments can inform the legal process more effectively, as have changes in legal process. Awareness of particularly vulnerable cohorts, and of contemporary approaches to disability, has led some jurisdictions to introduce supports for defendants. The lived experience of those found unfit to stand trial reminds all who participate in the legal process of the importance of access to justice, and the possible outcomes of being found unfit.