“Challenges to Reforming the Competence to Stand Trial and Competence Restoration System,” was written by Lisa Callahan, Ph.D. and Debra Pinals, M.D. and published in the July 2020 issue of Psychiatric Services. Dr. Callahan is a Senior Research Associate at Policy Research Associates.

This article reviews the problems affecting the current competence to stand trial and competence restoration systems and offers preliminary solutions. Public mental health services are often overburdened with competence-related requests from courts, leading to long delays in evaluation and restoration services for people in jails. In this paper, Drs. Callahan and Pinals recommend collaboration between the legal and behavioral health systems and an examination of the local factors that contribute to CST/CR waitlists. A review of the published works on the legal foundations of CST/CR is also provided to enhance the recommendations.

  • Associated Mappings:
    • Competence to Stand Trial

This resource was first shared in 2020.

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