Fitness, responsibility, and judicially ordered assessments.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the characteristics of individuals assessed for fitness to stand trial (FST) with those assessed for criminal responsibility (CR).

METHOD

This study examines all the consecutive requests of FST or CR addressed to the only forensic psychiatric hospital in the province of Quebec and 2 prisons in the Montreal area over a 1-year period.

RESULTS

In all, 170 FST, 52 CR, and 29 both FST and CR assessment requests were received (251 subjects). Psychiatrists' recommendations and court verdicts of unfitness to stand trial or not criminally responsible on account of mental disorders were mostly related to the presence of a psychotic-spectrum disorder. There is generally a good agreement between psychiatric recommendations and verdicts of the court, with the exception of unfitness recommendations.

CONCLUSIONS

Defendants referred for a FST or a CR assessment displayed similar characteristics. However, although subjects with psychotic disorders represented more than one-half of the unfit or not criminally responsible verdicts, most of the subjects with psychoses were found competent to stand trial or responsible.