Evaluation of competency to stand trial in defendants who do not want to be defended against the crimes charged.
Implicit but significant assumptions made in the criminal justice system include beliefs that criminals do not commit crimes to be tried and convicted and that, once arrested, defendants' primary motives are to avoid or minimize the legal consequences of the charges they face. When those assumptions are not correct, clinicians and legal decision makers are faced with difficult tasks. The authors present three cases of defendants who were not primarily concerned with defending themselves against the charges they faced, but rather with using the criminal justice procedures to further personal goals, and discuss the problems involved for forensic evaluators and courts.
Miller
R D
RD
Forensic Assessment Unit, Mendota Mental Health Institute Forensic Center, Madison, WI 53704.
Germain
E J
EJ
D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D003416:Criminal Law; D003702:Delusions / Q000523:psychology; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D007298:Insanity Defense; D007603:Jurisprudence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014481:United States