FORENSIC ASSESSMENT Kidnapping case

Running Head: FORENSIC ASSESSMENT 1
Forensic Assessment
Name
Institution
Date

FORENSIC ASSESSMENT 2
Forensic Assessment
Smart was kidnapped by Mitchell at the age of fourteen in her home at Utah (Bullock et
al., 2013). She was kidnapped at knife point and was held at his home alongside with his wife,
Ileen (now deceased) (Bullock et al., 2013). During this time that she was kidnapped, Mitchell
repeatedly raped Smart (Morewitz, 2019). Mitchell, the 57-year-old homeless kidnapper,
pretended to be a religious preacher (Morewitz, 2019).
Originally, Mitchell had been declared unfit to stand trail. The main reason for the
declaration was insanity. However, upon further evaluation with a psychiatrist, Dr. Welner, the
ruling was reversed and Michelle was given a life sentence (Effron, 2011). Dr. Welner was hired
to reexamine the defendant’s mental state. Welner conducted interviewees with several people
who had personal contact with Mitchell including Smart and also spent hours with Mitchell in
order to ascertain his mental state. During trial, Welner who was the key witness in the Brian’s
insanity and competency phase asserted that Mitchell was mentally competent (Reavy, 2010). He
testified that the defendant suffered from an anti-social personality disorder, alcohol abuse, and
psychopathic disorder (Effron, 2011). However, despite of all these disorders, Welner confirmed
Brian was not mentally ill hence was fit to stand trial.
It is a requirement in the criminal justice system to confirm if a person is fit to stand trial.
This phase is very crucial as it dignifies the process and is also a way of respecting the autonomy
of a defendant (Lipsitt et al., 1971). Forensic psychiatrists are charged with the responsibility to
assess the mental competence of defendants. Some of the ways that are used to determine the
competence of defendants by assessing the defendant’s decision making process, through clinical
evaluation on the defendant, use of collateral information, as well as the use of expert opinion
(Hoge, 2016). Standardized assessment tools are used in the process of assessing competency.