Kentucky enacts a commitment track for violent defendants who cannot be restored to competency
The legislative record for House Bill 310 of the 2021 Regular Session shows it passed the House 96-0 on March 15 and the Senate 37-0-1 on March 29, and was signed by the governor on April 1, 2021 (Acts chapter 175). Although the bill's title is a general crimes-and-punishments one, amendments added provisions on competency to stand trial that became part of the final law.
Those provisions send certain violent defendants, found incompetent with no substantial probability of attaining competency, into a new involuntary commitment process under a new KRS Chapter 202C. The framework includes hearing procedures and commitment criteria, a guardian ad litem for the respondent, patient protections and a schedule of review hearings. A House floor amendment from Rep. Jason Nemes, available on the legislature's site, set out the same framework.
The law addresses what happens after restoration fails for the most serious charges, and sits alongside the evaluation-backlog problems later reported in the state.
Source: AN ACT relating to crimes and punishments and declaring an emergency. — Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, by Kentucky General Assembly
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