A Descriptive Study of Incompetent to Stand Trial and Non-Restorable Defendants in Pinal County Arizona
Description
This thesis examines the demographic, clinical, and criminal characteristics and discharge dispositions of pre-trial defendants deemed incompetent to stand trial and non-restorable (IST/NR) in Pinal County Arizona. Currently, there is limited research on defendants who are deemed IST/NR and even less so on discharge dispositions. The study utilized comparative descriptive analysis of secondary data collected by the Pinal County Attorney Offices on IST/NR defendants and restored defendants. It employed chi-square analyses to compare key variables between defendant groups. The study found few variations in clinical, legal, and criminal characteristics observed by previous studies and no statistical differences amongst IST/NR and restored defendants. However, it found the re-offense rate of IST/NR defendants in Pinal County was considerably lower than the general prison population. Moreover, it identified a narrow use of civil commitment procedures and guardianship amongst the IST/NR defendants who have a mental illness. Implications for further research and policy for Pinal County and Arizona are made.
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2017
Agent
- Author (aut): Snyder, Matthew Mark
- Thesis advisor (ths): Shafer, Michael S
- Committee member: Fradella, Henry F.
- Committee member: Ashford, José B.
- Publisher (pbl): Arizona State University