Assignment:
Dr. Steven Roberts has been appointed by the courts to conduct a competency to stand trial (CST) evaluation on a 17-year-old male defendant accused of sexual assault and battery. The defendant is a legal resident residing in the United States and is originally from a coastal village in Chile and speaks his native language, Mapudungun, and appears to understand some Spanish. However, he can also understand and speak rudimentary English. Dr. Roberts works in Appalachia in West Virginia. He is only able to locate someone who can speak Spanish, the national language of Chile; however, this individual is not a professional translator and the county does not have the financial resources to contract with a professional translator.
The CST evaluation was requested by the defendant's public defender due to her concerns that the defendant appears to have a low IQ and also appears to have "paranoid ideas." Dr. Roberts needs to weigh his options on how best to conduct the CST evaluation. He cannot simply refuse to conduct the evaluation due to the language barrier. The prosecutor has already indicated that the defendant appears to speak and understand English sufficiently to proceed with the trial. The pertinent questions are issues related to the Dusky standard. The defendant's ability to meet this standard would be influenced by a low IQ and/or paranoid delusions. Due to the severity of the charges, a finding of incompetence would result in civil commitment until competency is reached. Based on the nature of the assault, the charge carries a minimum sentence of ten to fifteen years.
Written Exercise Questions:
1. How should Dr. Roberts proceed with the evaluation?
2. What, if any, testing should be conducted?
3. Should he use an individual who speaks Spanish to assist with the evaluation?
4. What are the ethical issues faced by Dr. Roberts?
5. How should he resolve these ethical dilemmas?
For this module, you will be required to complete a written exercise. The paper must be in APA format and include a title page, abstract, discussion, conclusion, and references. Your paper should go beyond the obvious, be written at a graduate level, and must be at least 1,700 words in length. You must use at least three resources to support your position. Remember, all resources including, but not limited to, journals, magazines, and/or books must be properly cited using APA style.