Defense Counsel Obligations to Screen for Mental Illness

Anecdotes and peer-reviewed studies report that large percentages of the criminal justice population (arrested, defendants, detainees / inmates) are mentally ill. For many, mental illness is identified only post-trial during incarceration. Defense attorneys likely provide these clients Constitutionally defective representation. This representation wastes resources, triggers legal and personal consequences for the defendant, and impairs public safety while increasing costs in all components of the justice system. Use of screening instruments by counsel would reduce the instances of mentally ill defendants receiving ineffective representation and passing undetected through counsel's hands into corrections and ultimately back to society without treatment.