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Attorneys' referrals for competency to stand trial evaluations: Comparisons of referred and nonreferred clients
Author(s) -
Berman Lisa M.,
Osbome Yvonne Hardaway
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.2370050310
Subject(s) - psychology , certainty , clinical psychology , applied psychology , social psychology , epistemology , philosophy
The purpose of this investigation was to compare defendants for whom the competency to stand trial (CTST) motion had been raised with those for whom it had not. Twenty attorneys (10 private, 10 public) rated six clients each on a questionnaire of demographic characteristics, behavioral descriptors, and attorney's certainty of incompetency for the clients who had the motion raised. Type of offense and educational level discriminated between the defendant groups, as did 8 of the 11 behavioral descriptor subscales. Speech disorganization was the only subscale that correlated with attorney certainty of client incompetency. The majority of the attorneys were found to be familiar with the Dusky criteria. Results are discussed in light of future studies and caution with respect to data from studies of only defendants referred for CTST evaluations.