Citation

Ho T, Henderson BB. J. Crim. Justice 1998; 26(4): 307-320.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S0047-2352(98)00013-0

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Competency to stand trial is a constitutional requirement of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the criminal justice system, psychologists play a crucial role in the determination of a defendant's competency whenever the issue is raised during a criminal trial. This study of 288 criminal defendants diagnosed as mentally retarded explores the construct validity of competency to stand trial by examining the potential contributing factors in psychologists'diagnoses of mental retardation and its relationship to the judges'decisions on competency to stand trial. The results showed that the most important predictor of judges' decisions on competency to stand trial was psychologists' evaluations. Defendants' criminal history and prior experience of incompetency adjudication were also correlated with judges' adjudications on competency of current charges. A defendant was less likely to be adjudicated as competent to stand trial if he or she previously had been found incompetent to stand trial. Demographic variables such as race had no relationship to judges' decisions.