Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
Volume 43, Issue 3, 2015, Pages 277-281

Mental health and immigrant detainees in the United States: Competency and self-representation (Article)

Korngold C.* , Ochoa K. , Inlender T. , McNiel D. , Binder R.
  • a Beijing United Family Hospital, Beijing, China
  • b David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States
  • c Los Angeles, CA, United States
  • d Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, United States
  • e Department of Psychiatry, UCSF School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, United States

Abstract

Most immigrant detainees held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities do not have legal representation, because immigration proceedings are a matter of civil, not criminal, law. In 2005, Mr. Franco, an immigrant from Mexico with an IQ between 35 and 55, was found incompetent to stand trial, but was not appointed an attorney for his immigration proceedings. This failure led to a class action lawsuit, known as the Franco litigation, and in April 2013, a federal judge ordered the U. S. government to provide legal representation for immigrant detainees in California, Arizona, and Washington who are incompetent to represent themselves due to a mental disorder or defect. This development has implications for forensic evaluators, because there is likely to be an increase in the number of competency examinations requested by courts for immigrant detainees. Furthermore, forensic evaluators must understand that an evaluation for competency of an immigrant detainee includes both the Dusky criteria and capacity for self-representation. In this article, we explore the legal context and ethics concerns related to the Franco litigation. © 2015, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. All Rights Reserved.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

Emigrants and Immigrants Emigration and Immigration Mental Competency mental capacity legislation and jurisprudence psychology United States mental health human Humans migrant migration legal aspect
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84943578613&partnerID=40&md5=a5dcbc73f80d6ab64392f250ef5118e7
ISSN: 10936793
Cited by: 2
Original Language: English