PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Fitch, W. Lawrence TI - AAPL Practice Guideline for the Forensic Psychiatric Evaluation of Competence to Stand Trial: An American Legal Perspective DP - 2007 Dec 01 TA - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online PG - 509--513 VI - 35 IP - 4 4099 - http://jaapl.org/content/35/4/509.short 4100 - http://jaapl.org/content/35/4/509.full SO - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2007 Dec 01; 35 AB - The AAPL Practice Guideline for the Forensic Psychiatric Evaluation of Competence to Stand Trial provides a rich discussion of the legal standards and procedures for evaluating and determining a criminal defendant's trial competence and for restoring to competence defendants found to be incompetent. The document includes an up‐to‐date discussion of the applicable case law, examines ethics considerations for forensic examiners, addresses cultural issues, and offers practical templates for interviewing defendants and preparing reports. Although its focus is on trial competence in adult criminal court, the document also attends to competency considerations for minors facing delinquency proceedings in juvenile court. Comprehensive and incisive, if not optimally organized and tabulated, the Guideline will serve as the standard reference for psychiatrists asked to provide trial competence assessments in criminal and juvenile court cases.