PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Williams, Joseph B. TI - Adjudicative Competence in the Context of a Defendant's Absence from Trial after a Suicide Attempt AID - 10.29158/JAAPL.230093-23 DP - 2023 Dec 01 TA - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online PG - 558--565 VI - 51 IP - 4 4099 - http://jaapl.org/content/51/4/558.short 4100 - http://jaapl.org/content/51/4/558.full SO - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2023 Dec 01; 51 AB - Defendants who are facing criminal charges in the United States have a constitutional right to be present at trial. This right can be voluntarily waived; for such a waiver to be valid, the defendant must be competent to waive the right to be present at trial. There have been several cases where a defendant is absent from trial because of a suicide attempt, and in these cases the courts must determine whether it is necessary to pause the criminal trial to allow for a competence hearing to take place. The U.S. Supreme Court offered guidance on this matter in its ruling in Drope v. Missouri; however, the Court did not clearly define the threshold for requiring a competence hearing when defendants attempt suicide during trial. Subsequent judicial rulings have provided insights into how courts might proceed when a criminal defendant is absent from trial following a suicide attempt. This topic has relevance to forensic psychiatry, as forensic psychiatrists may be called upon to participate in evaluations of adjudicative competence in these scenarios.