The question of whether an individual is competent to be sentenced hinges on the broader question “What is competence?” In general, competence is defined within the legal arena as the mental ability to play an active role in legal proceedings. Competence to be sentenced is a specific form of legal competence that addresses an individual’s
To date, very few instruments have been developed for the purpose of assisting evaluators in the assessment of competency for execution. One of the first—the Checklist for Competency for Execution Evaluations— is described in this research paper. The checklist consists of four sections that describe important and relevant psycholegal criteria to be considered in this
The Hopkins Competency Assessment Test (HCAT) was developed as a brief screening measure for assessing a patient’s capacity to provide informed consent and prepare advance directives regarding medical treatments. As mental health clinicians have increasingly recognized the importance of accurately assessing a patient’s ability to provide informed con-sent, the need for measures to quantify this
Competency for execution refers to a person’s ability to understand the reason, imminence, and finality of his or her execution. The evaluation of competency for execution is one of the most infrequently encountered, but arguably highest stakes, of forensic mental health evaluations. Because an evaluation of competency for execution is inextricably and proximally associated with
The issue of competency to stand trial refers to a defendant’s current mental functioning at the time of his or her trial: Those who are unable to understand the court proceedings or unable to assist counsel in their defense as a result of mental disorder or cognitive deficit are considered incompetent to stand trial. The
Competency modeling is a method of collecting and organizing job information and worker attributes into broad competencies. Competencies are descriptions of the characteristics and qualities that a person needs to possess to perform a job successfully. Although the practice of competency modeling is relatively new to the field of industrial and organizational psychology, the idea
The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, which, according to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Ford v. Wainwright (1986), includes the execution of the insane. Thus, it is unconstitutional to execute condemned inmates who become incompetent while on death row while they remain in an incompetent state. Statutes set
To date, very few instruments have been developed for the purpose of assisting evaluators in the assessment of competency for execution. One of the first—the Checklist for Competency for Execution Evaluations— is described in this research paper. The checklist consists of four sections that describe important and relevant psycholegal criteria to be considered in this
The Hopkins Competency Assessment Test (HCAT) was developed as a brief screening measure for assessing a patient’s capacity to provide informed consent and prepare advance directives regarding medical treatments. As mental health clinicians have increasingly recognized the importance of accurately assessing a patient’s ability to provide informed con-sent, the need for measures to quantify this
Evaluations of competency to stand trial are the most common source of referrals to forensic mental health practitioners. While the clear majority of those examined are viewed as competent to proceed, those found incompetent to stand trial (IST) may be subjected to treatment and training to enable them to proceed to trial, typically referred to