Psychology 2032A/B Quiz: Competency to Stand Trials
16 Feb 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
Competency to Stand Trial
•
Insanity defense concerns accused’s mental state at the time of the crime
•
Competency to stand trial
= whether the defendant has sufficient present ability to
consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding, and
whether he has a rational as well as
a factual understanding of the proceedings
against him
•
Must be decided before it can be determined whether a person is responsible for
the crime which
he/she is accused
•
Pate v. Robinson – the defense attorney, prosecutor, or judge may raise
the question of the
psychological disorder whenever there is reason to
believe that the accused person’s mental
condition might interfere with
his/her upcoming trial
•
In absentia “not present” = a centuries old principle of English common law that
refers to the
person’s mental state, not his/her physical presence
o
Trial can be delayed, accused person placed in hospital with hopes of
restoring adequate
mental function
•
Being deemed mentally ill doesn’t necessarily mean cannot stand trial
•
Being judged incompetent to stand trial has consequences for individual:
o Bail is automatically denied, person usually kept in hospital for
pretrial examination
(supposed to receive treatment to become
competent to stand trial), person may lose
employment, undergo
trauma from being separated from family/friends/familiar
surroundings
•
Jackson v. Yates – deaf and mute man with intellectual disability, deemed
unlikely to ever be
competent to stand trial
o If deemed not ever competent, state must either institute civil
commitment or release the defendant
o
Cannot be committed to process of determining competency that exceeds
longest possible
sentence
o Most people deemed competent in about 6 months
•
Can proceed in trial with “synthetic sanity” due to medication
•
Cannot forced defendant to take medication, until 2003***new ruling,
can be used only if alternative treatments had failed
•
Medications are often the most effective means of
restoring competency
Insanity, Intellectual Disability, and
Capital Punishment
•
Should someone who is sentenced to death have to be legally sane at the time of
the execution?
•
Daryl Atkins – intellectual disability and capital punishment – lacked understanding
of consequences
of actions, not morally culpable for acts as a person of normal
intelligence *capital punishment would be unconstitutional
o
Ruled that capital punishment of those with intellectual disability
Document Summary
Judge will order mental health examination if believes there is a good reason to. Person has the right to object the these attempts, court hearing scheduled to allow person to present evidence against commitment. Informal (emergency) commitment can be accomplished without involving the courts initially. If hospital board believes a person requesting discharge is too mentally ill and dangerous, can detain the person with a temporary, informal commitment order. Police can take any person acting out-of-control or in a dangerous manner to a psychiatric hospital. Most common is the physician"s certificate (pc) physician can sign a certificate that allows a person to be hospitalized for some period between 24 hours to 20 days: affects more people than criminal commitment. 1) if a person has been repeatedly violent in the recent past, it is reasonable to predict that he/she will be violent in future unless there are major changes in person"s attitude/environment.
