Abstract
Defendant Doe was diagnosed with a significant mental illness in 2015. His adult diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia came after having been an adjudicated delinquent following multiple status offenses as a juvenile. Defendant Doe was placed into foster care as a result of his biological father’s incarceration and his mother’s unwillingness to seek treatment for her substance use disorder. Mother, father, and now adult Defendant Doe were all eligible for services and attempted to receive them through the local community services board (“CSB”).
Defendant Doe received psychiatric and supportive services through the CSB. Defendant Doe again entered the criminal justice system after being charged by warrant with two misdemeanors: petit larceny and trespassing. Defendant Doe was advised of his charges and subsequently qualified for court-appointed counsel. On Defendant Doe’s behalf, Doe’s attorney requested a competency evaluation be completed on an outpatient basis. Defendant Doe was evaluated, and the evaluator opined that he was not competent to stand trial. In the interim, Defense Counsel and the Commonwealth Attorney discussed the possibility of Defendant Doe being considered for the local behavioral health docket. Defendant Doe failed to return to court on the date that his competency evaluation results were to be returned to the court. A capias to show cause was issued for his failure to appear. Once the capias was executed, Defendant Doe returned to court and showed signs of decompensation and not being medicated. Defendant Doe was determined to be a danger to himself after an evaluation by a local jail team comprised of CSB staff. He was transported to a state psychiatric hospital for further treatment and an emergency custody order was entered.
Defendant Doe’s story does not end here but represents the early phase of his interaction with the criminal justice system as an adult. Moreover, it demonstrates the non-linear nature of a defend- ant’s interaction with the criminal justice system, psychiatric hospitalization, the local CSB, and the potential to be considered for a local behavioral health Specialty Docket. Defendant Doe’s story is typical of individuals with serious mental illness in the criminal justice system. …
Recommended Citation
The Honorable Jacqueline S. McClenney,
The Case for Specialty Dockets: The Intersection of Judicial Intervention, Psychiatric Hospitalization and Involuntary Commitments, Community-Based Services, and Public Safety,
59
U. Rich. L. Rev.
181
(2024).
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview/vol59/iss1/8
