Florida State Hospital - Competency To Be Executed

Competency To Be Executed

One of the tasks of the forensic psychologists in the forensic wing is to evaluate an inmate's competency to be executed. This is a result of Ford v. Wainwright, a Florida inmate on death row who took his case to the United States Supreme Court, declaring he was not competent to be executed. The court ruled that a forensic professional must make that evaluation and, if the inmate is found incompetent, provide treatment to aid in his gaining competency so the execution can take place. Providing treatment to an individual to enable that person to become competent to be executed puts mental health professionals in an ethical dilemma.