Competency Services - A number of Protection and Advocacy agencies have encountered problems with competency determination systems that leave a person with a psychiatric disability trapped and forgotten. For example, the state leaves individuals in jail for long periods of time with no medicine or treatment while awaiting a competency determination rather than transferring them to a more appropriate treatment setting. Many people could avoid the criminal justice system entirely with the provision of community based services, at this point in the process, while ensuring public safety. This webinar would focus on the issue of diversion and access to competency determination services. The webinar would include information on what is the current state of the law on this topic, how people can ask the right questions to figure out problem areas in the competency determination system, and work together to address these problems in their state or territory.
