Researchers document a national 'competency crisis' straining evaluators and hospitals
A peer-reviewed review article in Behavioral Sciences & the Law, led by forensic psychologist Daniel Murrie and colleagues, documented rising competency-to-stand-trial referral volume nationwide alongside stagnant evaluator and hospital-bed capacity, describing how evaluation practice — including report quality and telehealth use — is adapting under the strain.
The paper's "competency crisis" framing has become a standard reference point in the field, echoed in a related book chapter on restoration outcomes and in Virginia's regional evaluator-shortage reporting a few months later.
Source: Evaluations of competence to stand trial are evolving amid a national “competency crisis” — Behavioral Sciences & the Law, by Daniel C. Murrie, W. Neil Gowensmith, Lauren E. Kois, and Ira K. Packer
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