Released on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.
In November we started our discussion on how mental illness is impacting our nation and particularly our courts. In this episode, we are taking a deeper dive into the criminal justice realm, specifically the challenge of competency to stand trial. The task of determining if a defendant is competent to stand trial, to assist in one’s own defense can be daunting. The road to restoring a defendant to competency can be arduous and leave some people in an incarcerated limbo for weeks or even months.
This month is the second of our five-episode discussion with members of the National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts’ Response to Mental Illness. Some of the questions we will explore include:
- What are some of the specific challenges surrounding competency to stand trial?
- What is being done to overcome those challenges on both the national and the community level? and
- What recommendations does the Task Force have for us?
Our panel today includes:
- The Honorable Nan Waller, Judge of the 4th Judicial District in Portland, Oregon and
- Richard Schwermer, with the National Center for State Courts and Retired State Court Administrator for the state of Utah.
Click here to listen to the podcast. The audio runs 33 minutes 24 seconds. The video runs 25 minutes 12 seconds.
Leave a question or comment about the episode at clapodcast@nacmnet.org.
Show Notes
> Additional ResourcesAdditional Resources:
NACM Podcast #2 – National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts Response to Mental Illness Additional Resources
Leading_Reform-Competence_to_Stand_Trial.pdf (ncsc.org) Task Force Report with 10 Recommendations
OR-Aid-and-Assist-Dashboard.pdf (ncsc.org)
Just and Well: Rethinking How States Approach Competency to Stand Trial (csgjusticecenter.org)
CCC-Caseflow-Mgmt.pdf (ncsc.org) A Person-Centered Approach: Collaborative Court and Community Caseflow Management for Individuals with Behavioral Health Needs
Court-and-Community-Diversion.pdf (ncsc.org) A National Landscape and additional recommendations will be released in 2022
JCMH 2021 Summit - Competency Restoration Crisis, National Perspective - YouTube ( 36.05 minutes) Judge Nan Waller and Rick Schwermer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7p4BKlwxBg Competency to Stand Trial – Sozosei Foundation (6.58 minutes)
When Mental Illness Becomes a Jail Sentence - The Atlantic
Subscribe to Behavioral Health Alerts
Visit the Behavioral Health Resources Hub https://mhbb.azurewebsites.net organized by the Sequential Intercept Model
The Sequential Intercept Model Decriminalizing Mental Illness - YouTube NACM Annual Conference 2019 by Travis Parker, Policy Research Associates
Collaborative and Community Caseflow Management
Court and Community Diversion
Just and Well
Leading Reform Competence to Stand Trial
OR Aid and Assist Dashboard
When Mental Illness Becomes a Jail Sentence - The Atlantic
JCMH 2020 Summit - Competence to Stand Trial: https://youtu.be/YaZJTRyUHMo
Competence to Stand Trial 2020: https://youtu.be/n7p4BKlwxBg
Sequential Intercept Model Decriminalizing Mental Health: https://youtu.be/3qXp16y3i4E
Behavioral Health Resource Hub: https://mhbb.azurewebsites.net
> About the Presenters
Judge Nan Waller
Judge Waller was appointed to the Multnomah County Circuit Court bench in 2001 by Governor Kitzhaber. She served as the Chief Family Law Judge for 5 years and as Presiding Judge for 6 years. She currently is the Mental Health Court Judge and manages the Aid and Assist docket for the court.
Judge Waller is a member of the Criminal Justice Workgroup of the National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts’ Response to Mental Illness. Judge Waller Co-Chairs the Chief Justice’s Behavioral Health Advisory Council and serves on the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet. She chairs Mental Health and Public Safety subcommittee of the Local Public Coordinating Council. Judge Waller currently serves on the board of Lines for Life, a non-profit dedicated to preventing substance abuse and suicide and promoting mental health. Judge Waller has received numerous awards for her work on the bench and in the community.
Judge Waller received her BA from Stanford University and graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law.
Richard Schwermer
Richard Schwermer has been involved in all aspects of court administration for over 30 years. First as a state level trial court administrator, then as a legislative liaison and Assistant State Court Administrator, he retired as the Utah State Court Administrator in 2019.
From 1994 to 2016 he was responsible for representing the judiciary to the legislative and executive branches of government and reviewing and drafting court related legislation.
Mr. Schwermer is committed to translating research into effective evidence-based practices in a variety of contexts, including court case management, behavioral health issues in the courts, pre-trial reform, and problem-solving courts.
He now serves as a consultant and faculty for the National Center for State Courts and for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.
He earned a BA from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and a Juris Doctorate from the SJ Quinney School of Law at the University of Utah.
