NCJ Number
139047
Journal
Behavioral Sciences and the Law Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1992), 419-435
Date Published
1992
Length
17 pages
Annotation
A sample of 99 male defendants ordered to the North Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center as incompetent to stand trial were administered the Computer-Assisted Determination of Competency To Stand Trial (CADCOMP) instrument within 15 days of admission.
Abstract
Decisions of competency were made by a panel of three mental health professionals who considered the test results and watched a videotape of an interview with the offender conducted by a forensic psychiatrist. Eighteen scales were constructed from the CADCOMP item pool. Internal consistency analyses showed that most scales were characterized by reasonable item homogenity and scale reliability. Item and scale analyses generally predicted patterns of intercorrelation and association with competency as measured by both criteria. The scales demonstrating strongest associations with competency were related to serious psychopathology, psycholegal ability, and criminal history. Based on these findings, the authors recommend CAPCOMP for research applications, but not for clinical use. Current research should provide valuable information regarding the reliability and validity of the instrument as well as data needed to ascertain the usefulness of these findings to other settings. 6 tables and 20 references