may be the fact that only a handful of individuals have
made successful claims of incompetency to be exe-
cuted. In addition, this particular type of competency
tends to evoke strong emotion in individuals, which in
turn may affect the motivation of involved profession-
als to conduct research in this area. The limited
amount of empirical research that has been conducted
has been confined to surveys. No research to date has
examined the issue of competency to be executed in a
sample of offenders sentenced to death.Patricia A. ZapfSee also Checklist for Competency for Execution EvaluationsFurther Readings
Ackerson, K. S., Brodsky, S. L., & Zapf, P. A. (2005).
Judges’ and psychologists’ assessments of legal and
clinical factors in competence for execution. Psychology,
Public Policy, and Law, 11, 164–193.
American Bar Association. (1989). Criminal justice mental
health standards.Washington, DC: Author.
Brodsky, S. L., Zapf, P. A., & Boccaccini, M. T. (2005).
Competency for execution assessments: Ethical
continuities and professional tasks. Journal of Forensic
Psychology Practice, 5,65–74.
Ebert, B. (2001). Competency to be executed: A proposed
instrument to evaluate an inmate’s level of competency in
light of the Eighth Amendment prohibition against the
execution of the presently insane. Law and Psychology
Review, 25,29–57.
Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399 (1986).
Heilbrun, K. S. (1987). The assessment of competency for
execution: An overview. Behavioral Sciences and the Law,
5,383–396.
Zapf, P. A., Boccaccini, M. T., & Brodsky, S. L. (2003).
Assessment of competency for execution: Professional
guidelines and an evaluation checklist. Behavioral
Sciences and the Law, 21,103–120.COMPETENCYSCREENINGTEST(CST)
The Competency Screening Test (CST) was developed
to address the unnecessary pretrial detention and com-
mitment of individuals charged with crimes but likely
to be judged fit to stand trial. This forensic instrument
was designed and tested to provide objective measures
based on the legal criteria for determination of adefendant’s capacity to participate in his or her own
defense against criminal charges. Psychological diag-
noses of mental illness or mental retardation may indi-
cate incompetency for trial but may not be sufficient
for such a finding by a court. Therefore, this test was
developed to reduce the risk of inappropriate findings
based on mental state alone.
The right of a person to be mentally as well as
physically present to face his or her accusers was rec-
ognized as early as 1764 in British Common Law. In
1960, for the first time, the U.S. Supreme Court enun-
ciated the constitutional requirement of competency
to stand trial in Dusky v. United States(1960) and
spelled out the legal standard that the defendant must
have “sufficient present ability to consult with his
lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational under-
standing” and “a rational as well as a factual under-
standing of the proceedings against him.”Description and Development
The CST consists of 22 items in a sentence-comple-
tion format designed as a self-reporting paper-and-
pencil instrument.
The content of each item relates to some aspect of
the task of a defendant preparing for and going to trial
as a result of criminal charges. Each item is based on
a factor within the legal definition of fitness for trial
and the psychological conditions that may contribute
to significant impairment of that ability.
Scores on the 22 items were subjected to a factor
analysis using a varimax orthogonal rotation. Six fac-
tors emerged that were consistent with the defendant’s
ability to stand trial:- Relationship to one’s attorney in establishing a defense
- Understanding and awareness of the nature of the
court proceedings - Affective response to the court process in dealing
with accusations and feelings of guilt - Judgmental qualities in engaging in the strategy and
evaluation of the trial - Trust and confidence in the attorney
- Recognition of the seriousness of the situation
Each of the 22 items is scored on a 3-point scale,
from 0 to 2, based on one or more of these factors.Competency Screening Test (CST)——— 115C-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:41 PM Page 115