Adjudicative competence

At any point in a criminal proceeding that a defendant shows signs of mental illness, his competence to proceed to stand trial may be questioned. In theory, the requirement that a criminal defendant be mentally competent before the trial can proceed assures that the defendant will receive a fair trial (Morris et al. 2004). The Supreme Court has long considered a competency to be a right of the criminal defendant in court. The defendant 's awareness and sanity must be intact to have him stand on trial. However, assessment conducted by assigning professionals has formed part of the court system to determine the competency of the defendant. Either the defense or the prosecution or the court itself may raise the issue, even if the defendant himself objects to it. The defendant 's mental state is crucial during trial. Two of the most frequently requested forensic evaluations involve questions of competency to stand trial (CST) and mental state at the time of the…

On December 16th, 2010, deputies responded to a reported disturbance in St. Augustine, Florida. A woman had called and reported that she had gotten into an argument with her roommate Lawrence Dean O’Bryan, who she described as intoxicated. The woman told the dispatcher she had locked herself into her room and started receiving text messages from O’Bryan asking her to come out. She then reported that she thought she heard O 'Bryan loading one of his many firearms. As the deputies attempted…

presence of a mental illness is not “just cause” to question the defendant’s competency to stand trial. In order for there to be bona fide doubt, at least one mental health professional would need to evaluate Miller (Costanzo & Krauss, 2015, p. 161). Costanzo and Krauss (2015) mention the competency to stand trial is determined by what a mental health professional deems is a defendant’s mental state at the time the trial. Two aspects of competency must be displayed by a defendant -…

terms of the plea agreement that had been offered. When asked questions about his behavior at the time of the offense, Mr. Abbadi either stared blankly at this evaluator or began speaking loudly in a foreign language. He then began speaking loudly making incomprehensible statements while looking over his shoulders. As Mr. Abbadi’s behavior became increasingly anxious, the interview was terminated. LEGAL STANDARD FOR COMPETENCY TO STAND TRIAL Competency to Stand Trial is a requirement of…

I. The court will likely find Humphrey entrusted the truck to Haley under Alabama common law. “When one person drives a car belonging to another, a rebuttable presumption of entrustment... arise when ownership is established ” Edwards v. Valentine, 926 So. 2d 315, 320 (Ala. 2005). This presumption can be rebutted by strong, clear and undisputed evidence that the driver was neither the agent of the owner nor operating the vehicle with her permission or consent. Thompson v. Harvard, 235 So.2d…

For the week of 09/28/15-10/03/15 I was assigned personnel assignments and did not shadow anyone in the department. I primarily did assignments for the sales team minus two hours where I left the office for new hire orientation. I was unable to tie any of my activities for the past week to any of my chosen competencies. On Monday 09/28/15 the Renaissance held their first new hire orientation since I started my orientation and I was instructed to attend. I learn everything from the benefits that…

Having established one’s own credibility, demonstrated responsibility, and established culture that focuses on results and organizational competence, the leader must ensure that that the right people are in the right role (Collins, 2001). By assessing the availability of roles, and the competencies that are required of each, a leader should make appropriate personnel selections to ensure the entire teams success, in that individual’s competencies and interests match the roles for which they…

An Agent of Competency As children, many young boys and girls watch sports on television with the hopes of one day being the one who is scoring the game winning touchdown, or shooting the game winning shot at the buzzer, or landing the perfect 10 to bring home the gold. Upon growing up, many of these same children realize only a select few will achieve that goal and must look for other ways to earn a living. One career path that can be taken that allows one to be part of the sport they love is…

al., 2015, p.79). To show the varying degree of expertise, the knowledgeable advisor would give the correct name for an animal, the basic-level advisor would give an approximate answer (e.g. calling a "whale" a "fish"), and the ignorant advisor would give a blatantly wrong answer (Rakoczy et al., 2015, p.79). The second experiment was then carried out in the same manner as the first, using the animal feeding game in two variations (Rakoczy et al., 2015, p.79). The first variation had the…

A person’s autonomy is a privilege that is earned through the knowledge gained through life experiences. For children, the right to decide is withdrawn because the parent’s are thought to know what is best in the circumstances concerning their children. The ability to understand and comprehend the severity of illness or the consequences of decisions is lacking in adolescents. They are deemed incapable of making informed decisions thus incompetent; therefore, the parents are given the authority…