The Importance of Competency in the Criminal Justice System with Dr. Eric Drogin

Mental Disabilities and the Criminal Justice System

This week Elizabeth Kelley talks with her guest, Dr. Eric Drogin, the author of the first chapter in the second edition of her book, ‘Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers.’

The two discuss clarification on the subject of competency and its importance, what to look for in the right mental health expert for your case, and at what point this work becomes the entree to a number of different medically and/or psychologically informed issues.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What competency is, and why it’s so important

• Competency to stand trial vs. competency to plead guilty

• What red flags criminal defense lawyers should be alert to

• How to find the right diagnosing expert for your client

• Differences in forensic mental health experts and treating doctors

• What types of tests are administered to determine competency

• Who decides if the client is competent after the evaluation

• When habilitation becomes the point of focus, and how to keep this from becoming a revolving door situation

• At what point this work becomes the entree to a number of different medically and/or psychologically informed issues

• What the mental health expert who is evaluating for competency to proceed determine

• What practice point Dr. Drogin has for newer attorneys having their first case in this area

Eric Y. Drogin, J.D., Ph.D., ABPP is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology, and a Diplomate and former President of the American Board of Forensic Psychology. He currently holds faculty appointments with Harvard Medical School, the Harvard Mass General Brigham Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) Harvard Medical School Psychiatry Residency Training Program, and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Harvard Psychiatry Residency Training Program. He is the Affiliated Lead of Psycholegal Studies for the Psychiatry, Law, and Society Program (at BWH), and participates in the Forensic Psychiatry Service (at BIDMC) and the Program in Psychiatry and the Law (at Massachusetts Mental Health Center).

Dr. Drogin is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a former Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Science and Technology Law. His multidisciplinary practice encompasses mental health law, expert witness testimony, and trial consultation.