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- Title
Competency courts: a creative solution for restoring competency to the competency process.
- Authors
Finkle, Michael J.; Kurth, Russell; Cadle, Christopher; Mullan, Jessica
- Abstract
It is well accepted that jail is a poor setting for treating the acutely mentally ill, yet the number of mentally ill persons in jail has increased such that Los Angeles County Jail and Riker's Island in New York house more mentally ill than any psychiatric hospital. The number of mentally ill persons charged with a crime whose competency to stand trial is in question has also increased dramatically. Inefficiencies within the competency process result in mentally ill persons charged with crimes remaining in jail longer than necessary. One solution is “competency court”, a specialty court within a mental health court. The same judges, attorneys, and mental health professionals staff both courts. By combining their Mental Health Court experience, they can work with the mentally ill using their expertise in competency law and processes, and thereby improve the competency process and reduce the unnecessary time that mentally ill persons spend in jail. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
- Subjects
LOS Angeles (Calif.); CALIFORNIA; MENTAL health of prisoners services; MEDICAL care of institutionalized persons; PEOPLE with intellectual disabilities
- Publication
Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 2009, Vol 27, Issue 5, p767
- ISSN
0735-3936
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/bsl.890