Assessment of Defendants’ Competency for Self-Representation

3 Hours

$150

Maureen Reardon, PhD, ABPP presents a live virtual professional training program on Assessment of Defendants’ Competency for Self-Representation in partnership with the American Academy of Forensic Psychology (AAFP).

The focus of this training is the evaluation of defendants whose ability to participate in the criminal process is not (or no longer) in question but whose competence to proceed without legal counsel remains at issue. First reviewed are key cases that provide background for the sorts of abilities the law may require of defendants who seek to represent themselves. Next presented is a conceptual framework for assessing the various functional capacities involved in self-representation, with particular emphasis on methods of differentiating decisions to represent oneself based on mental illness from those based on character pathology and/ or uncommon political, religious, or other subcultural values and beliefs.

This intermediate training is intended for forensic psychologists working in court clinics, institutional settings, and the private sector; as a practical resource for relevant caselaw, literature, and evidenced-based assessment strategies for approaching the unusual case of a defendant who is competent to proceed with counsel, but may or may not be competent of proceeding without counsel.