Citation

Hoge SK, Bonnie RJ, Poythress N, Monahan J. Behav. Sci. Law 1992; 10(3): 385-394.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/bsl.2370100308

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The authors employed a structured interview to ascertain public defenders' perceptions of their clients' competence and the degree of their participation in the defense. In a sample of 122 randomly selected, non-dismissed felony cases, attorneys had doubts about the competence of 14.8% (n = 18) of their clients. Attorneys reported that clients whose competence was doubted were less involved in decision-making and, overall, were passive participants in their cases. Nearly one-half of these clients were not referred for assessment by a mental health professional. The authors compare the practices of attorneys faced with clients of suspected competence with those of mental health clinicians treating patients with impairments in decision-making capacity.

Language: en