Standardization of the Assessment of Competency to Stand Trial

Evaluations of the Georgia Court Competency Test - Mississippi Version Revised (GCCT-MSH) and the Competency Screening Test (CST) have supported their use with pretrial defendants. The present study evaluated the efficacy of the measures with an inpatient population. Both measures were factor analyzed in an attempt to replicate; previously identified factor structures. Neither factor structure was replicated however, a distinct factor structure was identified for the GCCT-MSH. In addition, the relationship between sociodemographic variables, clinical variables, current symptomatology, and competency status were evaluated using discriminant functions analyses. The results suggest that the best predictors of incompetency in this sample are a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder or a non-psychotic affective disorder and a low measured IQ. Current symptomatology, as measured by the SCL-90-R, was not an effective predictor of competency status in this sample