title: Competency to stand trial among female inpatients.
abstract: Competency to stand trial evaluations are conducted by forensic mental health professionals to opine whether defendants possess the mental abilities to understand, appreciate, and reason in regard to their court proceedings. The majority of research on competency to stand trial evaluations has focused on males, with research on female defendants being relatively underexplored. Even less is known of diverse female samples referred for competency evaluation. In the current study, we sought to examine whether characteristics associated with competency among predominantly male samples translate to a racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse group of female defendants (N = 288, 85% non-White). Chi-square analyses revealed significant relationships between findings of incompetence and defendants' diagnosis of a psychotic disorder, active psychotic symptoms, medication noncompliance, nonparticipation in the evaluation, and nonfelony charges. Logistic regression analysis indicated that defendants who experienced active psychotic symptoms, did not participate in their evaluations, and were not compliant with their medication were most likely to be found incompetent. Notably, neither minority status nor age was a significant characteristic in predicting incompetence. These findings in particular differ from much of the literature and highlight the need to examine competency within a cross-cultural framework, as characteristics associated with competency opinions do not necessarily translate across demographic groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, 899 10th Avenue, New York, NY 10019, USA. lkois@gc.cuny.edu
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kois
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pearson
authors.forename: Preeti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chauhan
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goni
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Saraydarian
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D016015:Logistic Models; D016743:Mental Competency / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult