What is mental incompetency? What are some of the challenges in proving an individual is incompetent or insane?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: The lack of mental competence can be broken down into two categories that have relevance to criminal culpability; competency and sanity. Competency is a legal question that entails the ability to understand the nature of the charges and the ability to assist in a defense.
Discuss how it is determined, through the evaluation process, and how it is presented as a legal issue to the court, not a jury. Competence involves the mental status of an accused at the time of trial, and the issue may be raised by defense counsel, the prosecution, or the court. An accused who is incompetent to stand trial is usually referred to a course of treatment so that competency may be restored. The time limits for how long such treatment may be administered and how long an accused may be held are matters of state law. The treatment is required to be in the least restrictive environment considering the nature of the pending charge and the circumstances of the accused, such as whether he/she poses a danger to self or others. The issue of sanity focuses upon the state of mind the accused possessed at the time the act was committed. It is in the nature of an affirmative defense that raises the issue of whether or not the accused possessed the required criminal mental state at the time the act was committed. Unlike competence, insanity is a question of fact for a jury to determine. Compare and contrast the definitions from Black's Law Dictionary, the DSM IV, the review the disorders and categories of mental diseases and defects.