AIDS-related dementia and competency to stand trial: a potential abuse of the forensic mental health system? NLM AIDSLINE Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1991. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

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AIDS-related dementia and competency to stand trial: a potential abuse of the forensic mental health system?

Bull Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 1990;18(4):349-63. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/91145548
Perlin ML; Dvoskin JA; New York State Office of Mental Health, Albany 12229.

Abstract: Public health officials, hospital administrators, forensic directors, jail wardens, judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys must confront the issue: how should cases of individuals with AIDS dementia be treated when they are found to be permanently incompetent to stand trial? Although charges are sometimes dismissed in advanced cases of dementia, the more common pattern involves placement of the defendant in a public facility while awaiting trial. The refusal of some state facilities to accept these patients raises a host of legal, moral, and medical questions that virtually every urban state's forensic system will have to consider in the near future.
Keywords: AIDS Dementia Complex/*DIAGNOSIS/PSYCHOLOGY Expert Testimony/*LEGISLATION & JURISPRUD Human *Insanity Defense JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW REVIEW, TUTORIALKWDaidsdementiacomplex/KWDdiagnosis/psychologyexperttestimony/KWDlegislation&jurisprudhumanKWDinsanitydefensejournalarticlereviewreview,tutorial
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M9160700

Copyright © 1991 - National Library of Medicine. Reproduced under license with the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.

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