Arizona Rule 11 Task Force interim report finds competency evaluations concentrated in superior court and misdemeanor cases dropped without restoration
The Task Force on Rule 11, created by Administrative Order 2022-45 and staffed through the Administrative Office of the Courts, issued its interim report in October 2022. Using fiscal-year 2019 figures, it counted 2,278 competency evaluations in 42,627 superior court cases (5.3 percent), against 337 in 171,319 municipal court cases and 74 in 108,691 justice court cases, even though serious mental illness is spread evenly through the population.
Where a misdemeanor defendant is incompetent but could be restored, the report says the charge nearly always gets dropped and no restoration is attempted, because services are scarce and costly. It describes jails as the state's largest behavioral health facilities and says defendants held on misdemeanors can spend more time in custody waiting for evaluation and restoration than a conviction would have brought.
Its central recommendation was to attempt to limit competency restoration and steer people toward treatment diversion.
Source: Arizona Supreme Court Task Force on Rule 11 Interim Report | October 2022 — Arizona Supreme Court, by Arizona Supreme Court Task Force on Rule 11
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