The impact of defendant ethnicity on the psycholegal opinions of forensic mental health evaluators

The impact of ethnicity on clinicians' decision making has received a great deal of attention and research. Several studies have documented that client ethnicity significantly influences diagnoses, testing and assessment protocols, recommendations for treatment, and expected outcomes. However, there is limited research examining the impact of a criminal defendant's ethnicity upon forensic mental health experts. To examine this issue, the authors reviewed 816 forensic reports on competency to stand trial submitted to the Hawaii judiciary between 2007 and 2008 and compared recommendation rates across categories of defendant ethnicity. Significant differences between ethnic groups were found in recommendations of competency to stand trial. Specifically, Asian misdemeanant populations were found to be incompetent to stand trial at higher rates than other ethnic groups. These findings highlight the potential impact that ethnicity may have on clinicians' decision making in certain forensic settings.