Commentary: Facts and values in competency assessment.
Dr. Mossman's article cogently describes an approach to measuring the accuracy of competency-to-stand-trial assessments in the presence of a gold standard. I argue that a gold standard may not exist. A conclusion as to whether a defendant is fit to proceed requires a trade-off between a range of desired ends. This trade-off is inevitably influenced by the values of the examiner.
Buchanan
Alec
A
Division of Law and Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. alec.buchanan@yale.edu
D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D016743:Mental Competency / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States