Elsevier

Comprehensive Psychiatry

Volume 26, Issue 5, September–October 1985, Pages 421-432
Comprehensive Psychiatry

Psychiatric diagnosis and competency to stand trial

https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-440X(85)90079-3Get rights and content

Abstract

The relationship between competency to stand trial and DSM-III psychiatric diagnosis, age, sex, race, legal charge, education and those who have frequent competency evaluations, (repeaters), is examined. Three hundred and ninety consecutive admissions to the Yale-New Haven court clinic over a two and a half year period were analyzed. Psychiatric diagnoses and repeaters were significantly related to compentancy (P < .01). A formula for predicting competency was developed and achieved a positive predictive accuracy of 81%.

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    • Cited by (35)

    • Competency to stand trial evaluations in a multicultural population: Associations between psychiatric, demographic, and legal factors

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      p. 402). Some studies have found that characteristics associated with being found not competent include: non-Caucasian ethnicity, older age, unmarried status, unemployment, and lower education level (Cooper & Zapf, 2003: Hubbard, Zapf, & Ronan, 2003; Nicholson & Kugler, 1991; Pirelli, Gottdiener, & Zapf, 2011; Reich & Wells, 1985; Steadman, 1979). Mixed results have been reported with regard to gender; some studies found that women were more likely to be found not competent (Crocker, Favreau, & Caulet, 2002; Nicholson & Kugler, 1991; Rogers, Gillis, McMain, & Dickens, 1988) and others found no association between gender and competency (Cooper & Zapf, 2003; Pirelli et al., 2011).

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