Chapter ch01. Research Exercise

Assessing Criminal Competence

Due process of law demands that defendants charged with a crime must be competent at all stages of the criminal proceedings against them, including during sentencing. The Supreme Court has defined competence as the defendant’s current understanding of the nature of the charges and the case against them, as well his being able to assist their attorney in their own defense (Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402). The law presumes that a defendant is competent; the burden is on the defendant to prove lack of competence. Debate is ongoing as to what competence truly means, and both lawyers and psychologists are involved in research efforts to clearly identify a defendant’s competence.

After reading the executive summary of “The MacArthur Adjudicative Competence Study,” consider the questions below. Then submit your responses.

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