The impact of misdemeanor arrests on forensic mental health services: A state-wide review of Virginia competence to stand trial evaluations.

Across the United States, court orders for competence to stand trial evaluations and competence restoration services have been increasing much more rapidly than many states can provide these services, prompting what has been called a national “competency crisis.” Though many factors contribute to this crisis, one that has received little attention is the potentially disproportionate role of misdemeanor arrests on competency services. Therefore, we reviewed a state-wide sample of court-ordered competence evaluation reports in Virginia (N = 1,126) to compare defendants facing only misdemeanor charges to defendants facing felony charges. Overall, defendants facing only misdemeanors were more often opined incompetent to stand trial than were defendants facing only felony charges (44.0% vs. 31.2%), perhaps due to the greater prevalence of psychotic symptoms among defendants facing only misdemeanor charges (34.5% vs. 15.9%). Indeed, hierarchical regression analyses suggested that incompetence opinions were primarily explained by the presence of psychotic symptoms. A simple fiscal analysis also revealed that defendants facing only misdemeanor charges are disproportionately costly to Virginia, due in part to a greater need for inpatient restoration services. These findings suggest the national competency crisis could be reduced, to at least some degree, by mental health diversion or treatment strategies specific to mentally ill defendants facing only misdemeanor charges. (PsycInf...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - Category: Medical Law Source Type: research