The capacity of a criminal defendant to stand trial in the United States has been addressed in a sizable legal and scientific literature over a period of nearly 6 decades since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Dusky v. United States (1960). Much less attention has been devoted to the topic of the restoration to competency of defendants who have been adjudicated incompetent to stand trial, however. This article reviews the relevant law, the current status of litigation in a number of states regarding restoration, and the scientific and clinical evidence on the restoration of individuals in 4 populations: adults with severe mental illness, adults with intellectual disability, adults with cognitive deficits, and juveniles. Current law and scientific evidence are considered in a critical analysis yielding recommendations for policy. This analysis is particularly timely considering the major problems currently being experienced (and sometimes litigated) in the United States involving lengthy waiting periods for hospital-based restoration services.
Psychological evaluations regarding adolescents under the jurisdiction of the juvenile system provide important information to the courts and attorneys about relevant issues such as reoffense risk, rehabilitation needs and amenability, and sophistication-maturity. In this chapter, we summarize important developments in the forensic assessment of juveniles, summarize relevant developments in law and science, provide an overview of the process with applicable foundational principles of forensic assessment, and describe the implications for research, policy, and practice.
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