Dusky V United States Case Study

In 1960, Dusky v. United States ruled that the test must decide whether the defendant has sufficient present ability to consult with his attorney with a reasonable degree of rational understanding, and whether he has a rational, as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him. To fully understand this ruling, it is necessary to break down the true meaning. Present ability refers to their mental capacity at the time of the trial; this is important because the defendant’s mental capacity may be different from the time of the offense to the time of the trial. The ability to consult with one’s attorney does not refer to his or her willingness to assist their attorney, rather it refers to whether he or she is capable in doing so. …show more content…
In my opinion, the intended implications of the Dusky ruling were to keep the mentally ill out of the criminal justice system and allow these people to get the treatment they need. However, I do not believe this has been the actual implications of the ruling. According to the research there are ten times as many individuals with serious mental illness in jails and state prisons than there are in state mental hospitals. To me, this is absolutely astounding. One of the thousands of people in prison with a severe mental illness is Colin Ferguson, whom was found competent to stand trial despite his bizarre behavior in the court room. Although Ferguson was identified by several witnesses as the shooter in the massacre on a commuter train in New York, he insisted he was not the shooter and that a white man had taken the gun and framed him. Allowing Ferguson to not only stand trial but to also represent himself is, in my eyes, an injustice. He clearly did not understand the evidence against him, nor was he able to adequately defend himself because of his extreme paranoia and …show more content…
However, it is also my belief that this has not been the case at all. There are more mentally ill individuals in the criminal justice system nationally than in mental hospitals, this is not because the mentally ill are violent and deserve to be in prison, it is because we as a nation have not come together to figure out a way to help these individuals and get them help rather than worsening their condition in prison. The threshold for competency to stand trial is outrageously low and needs to be revised and uniformed for the entire nation. People like Ralph Tortoricci, Collin Ferguson and Robbie Bishop deserve help not