Sakdalan Joseph A E, Buchwald Khan, Visser Sabine
Regional Forensic Psychiatric Services (Mason Clinic/Te Whatu Ora), Auckland, New Zealand.
Cairnmillar Institute, Hawthorn East, VIC, Australia.
Psychiatr Psychol Law. 2024 Jan 17;32(1):121-132. doi: 10.1080/13218719.2023.2280525. eCollection 2025.
There is considerable variability in fitness to stand trial (FST) findings between assessors, which may potentially influence the courts' decisions for defendants with intellectual disability (ID). This study aims to determine the influence of the defendant's intelligence quotient (IQ) score and the assessor's professional discipline on FST findings and court outcomes for ID defendants in Aotearoa New Zealand. This study included 146 defendants with ID who were assessed between 2005 and 2015. Study findings revealed that psychologists find defendants unfit to stand trial at a higher IQ score than psychiatrists. Notwithstanding, there was a general agreement between the professions regarding the defendant's fitness to stand trial. Furthermore, the assessor's discipline did not appear to unduly influence the court's decision on fitness to stand trial. NZ court cases are discussed to highlight the issues with mild to moderate ID defendants previously found fit to stand trial.
评估者之间在受审能力（FST）评估结果上存在相当大的差异，这可能会潜在地影响法院对智障（ID）被告的判决。本研究旨在确定被告的智商（IQ）得分和评估者的专业领域对新西兰奥特亚罗瓦地区ID被告的FST评估结果及法庭判决结果的影响。本研究纳入了2005年至2015年间接受评估的146名ID被告。研究结果显示，心理学家认为被告在比精神科医生认定的更高智商分数时即不适合受审。尽管如此，不同专业在被告的受审能力方面存在普遍共识。此外，评估者的专业领域似乎并未对法院关于受审能力的判决产生过度影响。文中讨论了新西兰的法庭案例，以突出此前被认定适合受审的轻度至中度ID被告的相关问题。
