Estimates of Annual Numbers of Competency to Stand Trial Evaluations in the United States
| Estimate | Key Year(s) of Data Useda | Publication Year | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36,000 | 1971–1972 | 1979 | Multiplying the estimated number of defendants diverted for incompetence to stand trial each year by the estimated number of CST evaluations for each adjudication of incompetency. (Methods inferred from information in the book.)19 |
| 19,260–25,680 | 1978 | 1982 | Multiplying the estimated number of individuals admitted to U.S. facilities for incompetence to stand trial by the estimated number of CST evaluations for each adjudication of incompetency.20 |
| 24,000–39,000 | 1991–1992 | 1997 | A survey of directors of forensic evaluation systems asked for “low-end” and “high-end” estimates for annual numbers of CST evaluations; these numbers represent the sum of these estimates.21 |
| 49,611 | 1989–1990, 1992 | 1998 | Multiplying a conservative estimated percentage of felony defendants referred for CST evaluations by the number of crimes listed in the U.S. Total Crime Index.22 |
| 60,000 | 1989–1992, 1994 | 2000 | Multiplying a conservative estimated percentage of felony defendants referred for CST evaluations by an estimated number of felony indictments each year.23 |
| 90,200 | 2015 | 2017 | Multiplying the estimated number of pretrial detainees in jails by the estimated percentage of jail inmates with a serious mental health disorder.24 |
| 25,634–51,500 | 2014 | 2019 | A survey of officials working for public mental health systems asked for a range (e.g., 1–50, 51–200) of how many CST evaluations were performed annually in each state; these numbers represent the sum of the lower and upper end of these estimates.25 |
| 94,000 | 2019 | 2020 | Authors used their “own calculations, based partially on national rates of incarceration at the pre-conviction level … and rate of severe mental illness in that population” (Ref. 26, p 65). |
↵a This column may not include all relevant years of data used, as authors occasionally used additional secondary sources or data from nonspecific time periods in their calculations.
CST = competency to stand trial