Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

91 addicted young adults (66%) displayed a co-morbid mental disorder, such as personalitydisorders (31.9%) and conduct disorders (19.8%). 18 patients were admitted because theysuffered from severe mental disorder during the time of offending. Out of these, 50-55 %suffered from a co-morbid disorder.Conclusions: Co-morbid mental disorders of various kinds put a challenge on the staff inhospitals for Forensic Psychiatry. Mechanisms limiting the benefits of therapeutic interventionsin forensic hospitals also include co-morbid mental disorders and should be studied in detail.109. Mental Health & Death RowCompetency and Capital Inmates Who Seek Execution by Opting to Waive theirAppealsLinda L. Griffis, Office of the Federal Public Defender, USA (linda_griffis@fd.org)It is not uncommon for death row inmates to "volunteer" to be executed by seeking to terminatetheir pending appeal or post-conviction proceeding. Not surprisingly, a high percentage of theseinmates struggle with chronic mental illness. Additionally, the literature makes clear thatconditions of incarceration can have an adverse impact on an inmate's psychological well-beingand, in turn, their competency to make rational, intelligent and voluntary decisions about theircase. The United States Supreme Court requires only that a death row inmate be competent towaive his appeals. The question of competency, as defined by the Supreme Court, asks whetherthe inmate has a rational and factual understanding of the consequences of his decision. If hedoes, and if the waiver is knowing, intelligent and voluntary, then he will be permitted to waivehis appeals. The question that arises, however, is whether the inmate's decision is attributable toa mental disorder — either chronic or as a result of his incarceration — or is instead truly theproduct of a rational choice. This presentation will address how some courts have dealt with thisrecurring issue and how any meaningful competence inquiry must focus not only on the inmate'sunderstanding of the consequences of the decision, but also on his or her reasons for wanting towaive pending litigation, and the rationality of the inmate's thinking and reasoning.“Moral Sufferings More Terrible than Death”: The Long wait on Death RowDenny LeBoeuf, ACLU Capital Punishment Project, Durham, USA (dleboeuf@aclu.org)Albert Camus wrote about the psychological pain the condemned experience in 1957. From theSoering case in 1989 through the Al-Saadoon case in 2010, the European Court of Human Rightshas found that the psychological suffering accompanying a prolonged wait on Death Row canamount to cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment. The courts of states from India to Kenya toCanada have considered this mental pain in decisions regarding extradition, consular rights, or261