The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), has released the new report Foundation Work for Exploring Incompetence to Stand Trial Evaluations and Competence Restoration for People with Serious Mental Illness/Serious Emotional Disturbance.

This publication provides an overview of the status of the fields of competence to stand trial (CST), incompetence to stand trial, and competence restoration for adults and youth in the criminal justice and juvenile justice systems.

The report consists of four main sections.

• Introduction: Provides the basics of why CST is a central issue in legal and clinical systems and provides key definitions
• An environmental scan of the legal foundation for CST, including case law and state statutes
• A literature review
• A summary of the national scope of 10 major issues in the CST system

Download the SAMHSA report here.