NCJ Number
110226
Journal
Rutgers Law Review Volume: 39 Issue: 2-3 Dated: (Winter-Spring 1987) Pages: 243-287
Date Published
1987
Length
45 pages
Annotation
The process for determining a criminal defendant's competency to stand trial should be restructured in a way that would both avoid formal clinical evaluation in some cases and would enable scarce clinical resources to be reallocated from evaluation to treatment.
Abstract
Projections based on the cost data from Dade County, Fla., indicate that the cost nationally of evaluating 25,000 defendants for competency each year is at least $185 million, not counting costs attributable to attorneys, court time, and hearings. In addition, the incompetency doctrine imposes costs on defendants in terms of unnecessary hospitalizations and delays in case processing. In addition, community treatment resources are needed for incompetent defendants who do not require hospitalization. Furthermore, courts should accept, with appropriate safeguards, waiver of the incompetency status by defendants who, with the concurrence of counsel, express the desire to stand trial or plead guilty despite their mental impairment. Where a defendant asserting incompetency as a bar to trial, a system of trial continuances should be substituted for the existing formal competency process. Special masters or court-appointed attorney evaluators could replace clinical evaluators to a large extent, although clinical assistance would be needed in some cases. 255 footnotes.