@article{ref1,
title="The relationship of competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility",
journal="Criminal justice and behavior",
year="1990",
author="Johnson, William G. and Nicholson, Robert A. and Service, Nancy M.",
volume="17",
number="2",
pages="169-185",
abstract="Mental health professionals have been accused of confusing the constructs of competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility with each or with a third construct such as psychosis. This investigation examined the relationship between decisions about competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility in a sample of 121 defendants admitted to a state hospital for pretrial evaluation. In addition, the investigation examined correlates of the two kinds of decisions using demographic data, measures of cognitive functioning and psychopathology, and a rating of crime severity. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS about the empirical relationship between competency and responsibility judgments were precluded because examiners classified most incompetent defendants as &quot;undetermined&quot; on the issue of criminal responsibility. Nevertheless, interesting differences in the correlates of the two legal decisions were obtained. Competency decisions showed modest but significant correlations with performance on a test of competency abilities, a measure of intellectual functioning, and psychiatric diagnosis. Responsibility decisions were most strongly correlated with two indices of psychopathology-psychiatric diagnosis and the presence of hallucinations and delusions.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0093-8548",
doi="10.1177/0093854890017002002",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0093854890017002002"
}