Assignment 5: Competency to Stand Trial

Competency to Stand Trial is the assessment of an individual’s present state of mind—the time at which he or she must stand trial. A person can only be deemed not competent to stand trial after an evaluation by a forensic psychologist. It is essential to know what a competency evaluation entails, because this information is directly relevant to the psycholegal assessment questions on the comprehensive exam.

In a minimum of 300 words, respond to the following:

Identify and discuss the issues raised in a competency hearing.

Clarify which types of disorders can render an offender not competent to stand trial.

Identify and describe at least three assessment instruments that are specifically used to determine an individual’s competency.

Discuss at least three other psychological tests that would be used as part of a competency evaluation, such as tests to assess personality, intellect, and/or malingering. State why these other tests are needed as part of an overall competency evaluation.

Your responses should rely upon at least three scholarly resources from the professional literature that are cited in APA format. The literature may include the Argosy University online library resources; relevant textbooks; peer-reviewed journal articles; and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (.edu and .gov).

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.