Abstract
Public health officials, hospital administrators, forensic directors, jail wardens, judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys must confront the issue: how should cases of individuals with AIDS dementia be treated when they are found to be permanently incompetent to stand trial? Although charges are sometimes dismissed in advanced cases of dementia, the more common pattern involves placement of the defendant in a public facility while awaiting trial. The refusal of some state facilities to accept these patients raises a host of legal, moral, and medical questions that virtually every urban state’s forensic system will have to consider in the near future.
Footnotes
-
Mr. Perlin is professor of law, New York Law School, 57 Worth St., New York, NY 10013. Dr. Dvoskin is associate commissioner for forensic services, New York State Office of Mental Health, 44 Holland Ave, Albany, NY 12229. A portion of this article was delivered a1 the biennial meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society in Williamsburg, VA.
-
The editors wish to apologize for any reference style inconsistencies; complete correction would have delayed publication.
- Copyright © 1990, The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
