Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers

For criminal defense lawyers of all types, clients with mental disabilities are a part of their practice. This ranges from the white collar criminal defense lawyer who represents an executive charged with tax evasion who functions in spite of a variety of conditions which he keeps hidden, to the public defender assigned as standby or advisory counsel for the defendant who wants to represent himself at trial, to the sole practitioner representing the man with Asperger’s charged with possession of child pornography on his computer. Depending on the statistics you read, approximately a third of the inmates in our jails and prisons have some sort of mental disability. It has become cliche to say that our jails and prisons have become de facto mental institutions. Representing People with Mental Disabilities is easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate. It is intended that you can throw the book in your briefcase on the way to the courthouse, or load it on your I-Pad, and turn to the appropriate chapter or chapters when needed. If you want to learn more about a topic, the Suggested Works section at the end of the book contains titles of books and articles as well as websites. Additionally, many chapters contain the statement at the end, “Complete citations are available from the author/authors upon request.” The accompanying website has motions and pleadings which you can adapt to your jurisdiction.