COMPETENCY

EVALUATION
• Points to be covered:

what is competency?

Dusky vs United State

Procedure in CST

Tests used to evaluate competence?

What after evaluation?

What is competency?

“Competency refers to an individual’s general ability to

exercise decisions and understand the nature of legal
proceedings.”

Competency is an issue in both civil and criminal procedure.

Forensic psychologist as well as psychiatrists assist in

assessing the competency.

Competency evaluation is applicable at every stage of the

criminal justice process from interrogations and pretrial
hearings to trails and sentencing hearings.
 Dusky vs United State (1960)

It was a United states Supreme Court case in which the court affirmed a
defendant’s right to have a competency evaluation before proceeding to
trial.

Dusky required that a defendant exhibit -

“sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a
reasonable degree of rational understanding – and whether he has a
rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against
him.”
Procedures in competency to stand trial :-
A defendant is legally presumed to be competent unless an issue of competency is
raised.

Any one can raise the issue of competency, however the trial judge is obligated to
raise the issue in case of doubt.

If the court finds the defendant is competent, the process continues towards trial.

If the defendant is incompetent the trial may delayed.

Most common way of evaluating competence is through various psychological

tests.
Tests Used to Evaluate Competence :-

1.Competency Screening Test (CST)

2.MacArthur Competence Asseeement Tool-Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-

CA)

3.Competency Assessment Instrument (CAI)

4.Interdisciplinary Fitness Interview (IFI)

5.Georgia Court Competency Test (GCCT)

 Competency screening Test

 It was developed by Lipsitt, lelos and McGarry(1971).

 22 items sentence completion test.
 Often used as initial screening tool.
 Score range from 2(competent answer) to 0(incompetent answer).
 Scores less than 20 suggest possible incompetence to stand trial.
 Produce large no. false positives, labeling defendants who are
competent as incompetent.
 Has high inter-rater reliability(0.85) but lowest predictive
validity.
 Example :-

1. when I go to court, the lawyer will :

2. The way court trial is decided :
3. If the jury finds me guilty, I :
4.When jury hears my case, they will :
etc.

;
MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal
Adjudication (MacCAT-CA)

 It was developed by Hoge, Poythress, Bonnie, Monahan and

Eisenberg(1997).
 Contains hypothetical situations that the defendant has to comment on.
 Includes information on four abilities:
-Understanding changes and trials
-appreciation of relevant information
-assessment of logical problem solving abilities
-making a choice
 Administration time is from 25 to 55 minutes.
 After the evaluation :-

 Defendants who found to be competent proceed to trial.

 If the crime is not serious the charges may be dropped for those
found incompetent.
 Defendants who were found incompetent go to a mental health
institution.
 At the institution they are treated for restoration of competence.
 If the treatment to restore competence is successful the
defendant will then stand trial.
THANK YOU