Citation

Schreiber J, Green D, Kunz M, Belfi B, Pequeno G. Behav. Sci. Law 2015; 33(2-3): 257-278.

Affiliation

Fairleigh Dickinson University, School of Psychology, Teaneck, NJ.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/bsl.2174

PMID

25827534

Abstract

The current study compared offender and offense characteristics of pretrial defendants found incompetent to stand trial (IST) against those described as general offenders by victims in the 2008 Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) survey and evaluated factors that differentiated IST defendants who allegedly used weapons from those who did not during the course of a violent offense. IST defendants were older and used "weapons" more frequently than those reported in the BJS survey; however, other characteristics, including use of firearms, did not differ. No demographic, clinical, or legal factors differentiated pretrial defendants who used weapons from those who did not. Overall, pretrial defendants were frequently diagnosed with a comorbid substance use disorder, and were homeless, unemployed, and had an extensive history of psychiatric hospitalizations and prior arrests at the time of their alleged offenses. Such results indicate that models for comprehensive discharge planning may have utility in addressing the unique needs of this subgroup of mentally disordered offenders. The findings also raise questions about the federal and state prohibition of gun rights to all IST defendants. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Language: en