Evaluating Fitness to Stand Trial in Australia

Fitness to stand trial is a legal construct that requires defendants to possess certain abilities to ensure a fair trial. Problematically, there is no validated method for how fitness is assessed in Australia. This may compromise the integrity of the court's decisions and cause harm to defendants with mental impairments. This thesis developed a reliable and valid method for mental health clinicians to evaluate fitness, thus improving the quality of forensic mental health evaluations. This directly benefitted the courts, clinicians, and defendants with mental impairments.