REPORT ON BILLS FAVORABLY REPORTED BY COMMITTEE

TITLE OF BILL:

AN ACT CONCERNING COMPETENCY TO STAND TRIAL.

SPONSORS OF BILL:

REASONS FOR BILL:

Mentally ill defendants were being arrested because of behaviors related to their disability, not because they were criminals and some instances are better treated within the mental health system, than the defendants being criminalized.

Substitute Language: Makes technical changes.

RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:

Commissioner Thomas A. Kirk, Ph.D., DMHAS-With this bill, we hope to take a quantitative step forward. The court does not have the information available that would permit it to order that a mentally ill defendant be transferred to a civil status, which means that those individuals are not able to profit from what we accomplished three years ago. This bill would allow Connecticut Valley Hospital to identify defendants who have been sent there for restoration as individuals who can profit from civil commitment rather than criminal prosecution. This amendment would give the hospital 120 days to determine whether patients are more appropriate for civil commitment and make that recommendation to the criminal court. We have also added language about attempting to encourage more clients to participate in a civil treatment status. We expect this to significantly increase the number of individuals for whom this statute would then have a positive result.

We have added language to clarify the hospital's responsibility regarding the content of the reports it submits to the criminal court, as well as clarifying some potentially confusing language about the court's option in those hearings.

We have recommended one small technical correction in the bill by adding language from the current C.G.S 54-56d (k)(1) and 54-56d(k)(2) to 54-56d (h)(2)(A) for purposes of uniformity.

NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:

Nothing submitted

NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:

Nothing submitted