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"Sell's" Conundrums: The Right Of Incompetent Defendants To Refuse Anti-Psychotic Medication, Christopher Slobogin
"Sell's" Conundrums: The Right Of Incompetent Defendants To Refuse Anti-Psychotic Medication, Christopher Slobogin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The Supreme Court's 2003 decision in Sell v. United States declared that situations in which the state is authorized to forcibly medicate a criminal defendant to restore competency to stand trial "may be rare." Experience since Sell indicates that this prediction was wrong. In fact, wittingly or not, Sell created three exceptions to its holding (the dangerousness, treatment incompetency, and serious crime exceptions) that virtually swallow the right to refuse. Using the still-on-going case of Jared Loughner as an illustration, this essay explores the scope of these exceptions and the dispositions available in those rare circumstances when none of them …
Doubts About Daubert: Psychiatric Anecdata As A Case Study, Christopher Slobogin
Doubts About Daubert: Psychiatric Anecdata As A Case Study, Christopher Slobogin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., the Supreme Court sensibly held that testimony purporting to be scientific is admissible only if it possesses sufficient indicia of scientific validity. In Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, the Court more questionably held that opinion evidence based on "technical" and "specialized" knowledge must meet the same admissibility threshold as scientific testimony. This Article addresses the implications of these two decisions for opinion evidence presented by mental health professionals in criminal trials.
The Role Of Mental Health Professionals In The Criminal Process: The Case For Informed Speculation, Christopher Slobogin, Bonnie J. Richard
The Role Of Mental Health Professionals In The Criminal Process: The Case For Informed Speculation, Christopher Slobogin, Bonnie J. Richard
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In this article we have attempted to make the case for continued participation by appropriately qualified mental health professionals in the adjudication of reconstructive subjective issues of the criminal law. In Part I, we outlined the reasons why imprecision and speculation is and must be tolerated in doctrines of exculpation and mitigation. In Part II, we developed the case for evidentiary rules which permit "informed speculation" by qualified clinical experts so as to enable defendants to explore and present subjective defenses and assist triers of fact to assess the plausibility and significance of such claims. We recognize that many mental …