Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:58:19.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 6 - A Survey of National Trends in Psychiatric Patients Found Incompetent to Stand Trial: Reasons for the Reinstitutionalization of People with Serious Mental Illness in the United States

from Part I - Introduction/Description of the Problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2021

By
Katherine Warburton ,
Barbara E. McDermott ,
Anthony Gale  and
Stephen M. Stahl
Edited by
Katherine Warburton  and
Stephen M. Stahl
Katherine Warburton
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
Stephen M. Stahl
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
Get access

Summary

Recent information indicates that the number of forensic patients in state hospitals has been increasing, largely driven by an increase in patients referred as incompetent to stand trial (IST). The surge in referrals for the evaluation and restoration of patients found IST is taxing state hospital systems, as well as the jails that must care for these patients when state hospitals are unable to accommodate the increased referrals. Many state mental health authorities are facing litigation pressure to admit IST patients more quickly, raising concerns about overcrowding and reinstitutionalization. Little is known about these national trends of increasing IST populations, and even less is known about what is driving them. This survey was intended to broaden the understanding of IST population trends on a national level.

Type
Chapter
Information
Decriminalizing Mental Illness , pp. 53 - 59
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Fitch, WL. Forensic mental health services in the United States. National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Policy Paper; 2014.Google Scholar
Wik, A, Hollen, V, Fisher, WH. Forensic patients in state psychiatric hospitals: 1999–2016. National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Policy Paper; 2017.Google Scholar
Grissom, B. With state hospitals packed, mentally ill inmates wait in county jails that aren’t equipped for them. Dallas Morning News; 2016. www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2016/04/21/with-state-hospitals-packed-mentally-ill-inmates-wait-in-county-jails-that-aren-t-equipped-for-them/ (accessed June 2020).Google Scholar
Jail wait times are inhumane for the mentally ill. The Delaware County Daily Times; 2016. www.delcotimes.com/opinion/ editorial-jail-wait-times-are-inhumane-for-the-mentally-ill/article_ cb4244a5-7113-5f8f-96a4-ab1bb0228cc2.html (accessed June 2020).Google Scholar
Dusky v. United States, 362, 402 (1960).Google Scholar
Pirelli, G, Gottdiener, WH, Zapf, PA. A meta-analytic review of competency to stand trial research. Psychol Public Policy Law. 2011; 17(1): 1–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warren, JI, Murrie, DC, Stejskal, W, et al. Opinion formation in evaluating the adjudicative competence and restorability of criminal defendants: a review of 8,000 evaluations. Behav Sci Law. 2006; 24(2): 113–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartos, BJ, Renner, M, Newark, C, McCleary, R, Scurich, N. Characteristics of forensic patients in California with dementia/Alzheimer’s disease. J Forensic Nurs. 2017; 13(2): 77–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, VG, Zapf, PA. Predictor variables in competency to stand trial decisions. Law Hum Behav. 2003; 27(4): 423–436.Google Scholar
Cochrane, RE, Grisso, T, Frederick, RI. The relationship between criminal charges, diagnoses, and psycholegal opinions among federal pretrial defendants. Behav Sci Law. 2001; 19(4): 565–582.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Torrey, EF, Kennard, AD, Eslinger, D, Lamb, R, Pavle, J. More mentally ill persons are in jails and prisons than hospitals: a survey of the states. Treatment Advocacy Center Policy Paper; 2010.Google Scholar
Abramson, MF. The criminalization of mentally disordered behavior. Psychiatr Serv. 1972; 23(4): 101–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arvanites, TM. The impact of state mental hospital deinstitutionalization on commitments for incompetency to stand trial. Criminology. 1988; 26(2): 307–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torrey, EF. Jails and prisons – America’s new mental hospitals. Am J Public Health. 1995; 85(12): 1611–1613.Google Scholar
Fields, G, Phillips, EE. The new asylums: jails swell with mentally ill. The Wall Street Journal; September 25, 2013.Google Scholar
Trueblood v. Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit); 2016.Google Scholar
Phillips, N. Lawyers take Colorado DHS back to court over mental competency exam backlog. The Denver Post; June 14, 2018.Google Scholar
Katz, MH. Examination of increase in mental competency cases. Report to LA County Supervisors; 2016.Google Scholar
Gowensmith, WN. Resolution or resignation: the role of forensic mental health professionals amidst the competency services crisis. Psychol Public Policy Law. 2019; 25(1): 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, HR, Weinberger, LE. The shift of psychiatric inpatient care from hospitals to jails and prisons. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2005; 33(4): 529–534.Google ScholarPubMed
Lamb, HR, Weinberger, LE, Marsh, JS, Gross, BH. Treatment prospects for persons with severe mental illness in an urban county jail. Psychiatr Serv. 2007; 58(6): 782–786.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bondurant, SR, Lindo, JM, Swensen, ID, National Bureau of Economic Research. Substance abuse treatment centers and local crime; 2016.Google Scholar
Toynbee, M. The Penrose hypothesis in the 21st century: revisiting the asylum. Evid Based Mental Health. 2015; 18(3): 76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stafford, K, Sellbom, M. Assessment of competence to stand trial. In: Weiner, I, Otto, R, eds. Handbook of Psychology, Vol 11 Forensic Psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2012: 412–439.Google Scholar
Honberg, R, Diehl, S, Kimball, A, Gruttadaro, D, Fitzpatrick, M. State mental health cuts: a national crisis. National Alliance on Mental Illness; 2011.Google Scholar
Martell, DA, Rosner, R, Harmon, RB. Base-rate estimates of criminal behavior by homeless mentally ill persons in New York City. Psychiatr Serv. 1995; 46(6): 596–601.Google ScholarPubMed
Martell, DA, Rosner, R, Harmon, RB. Homeless mentally disordered defendants: competency to stand trial and mental status findings. Bull Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 1994; 22(2): 289–295.Google ScholarPubMed
Schreiber, J, Green, D, Kunz, M, Belfi, B, Pequeno, G. Offense characteristics of incompetent to stand trial defendants charged with violent offenses. Behav Sci Law. 2015; 33(2–3): 257–278.Google Scholar
Bastiampillai, T, Sharfstein, SS, Allison, S. Increase in US suicide rates and the critical decline in psychiatric beds. J Am Med Assoc. 2016; 316(24): 2591–2592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sisti, DA, Sinclair, EA, Sharfstein, SS. Bedless psychiatry-rebuilding behavioral health service capacity. JAMA Psychiatry. 2018; 75(5): 417–418.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
California Hospital Association. California’s acute psychiatric bed loss. 2019.Google Scholar
Green, TM. Police as frontline mental health workers: the decision to arrest or refer to mental health agencies. Int J Law Psychiatry. 1997; 20(4): 469–486.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sisti, DA, Segal, AG, Emanuel, EJ. Improving long-term psychiatric care: bring back the asylum. J Am Med Assoc. 2015; 313(3): 243–244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steadman, HJ, Osher, FC, Robbins, PC, Case, B, Samuels, S. Prevalence of serious mental illness among jail inmates. Psychiatr Serv. 2009; 60(6): 761–765.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trestman, RL, Ford, J, Zhang, W, Wiesbrock, V. Current and lifetime psychiatric illness among inmates not identified as acutely mentally ill at intake in Connecticut’s jails. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2007; 35(4): 490–500.Google Scholar
Wilper, AP, Woolhandler, S, Boyd, JW, et al. The health and health care of US prisoners: results of a nationwide survey. Am J Public Health. 2009; 99(4): 666–672.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bellisle, M. After paying $83 million in fines, Washington settles jail mental-health lawsuit. The Seattle Times. 2018.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×