HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by O'Shaughnessy, R. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by O'Shaughnessy, R. J.

AAPL Practice Guideline for the Forensic Psychiatric Evaluation of Competence to Stand Trial: A Canadian Legal Perspective

Dr. O'Shaughnessy is Head, Division of Forensic Psychiatry and Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Address correspondence to: Roy J. O'Shaughnessy, MD, 305-1245 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6H 1G7, Canada. E-mail: royjoshaughnessy{at}telus.net

Canadian legal tests of fitness to stand trial, while similar to tests in the United States, place less emphasis on rational understanding of the complexities of the trial process and greater emphasis on communicating with legal counsel. The limited cognitive capacity test has gained wide acceptance in Canadian jurisprudence as a balance between ensuring that an accused person can provide the necessary information to allow his legal counsel to defend him adequately while also minimizing the potential delay in a speedy trial. The tests have been criticized by organized psychiatry and legal scholars but have been supported by advocacy groups for the mentally ill. Canadian research on accused persons committed to hospitals for fitness evaluations suggests that this process may be used or, arguably, misused by psychiatrists to provide treatment to persons who would otherwise be inaccessible to psychiatric intervention. This raises complex ethics-related questions not yet fully addressed.