Due to the landmark legal decision in Ake v. Oklahoma (1985), states are required to provide access to psychologists if a person’s mental health is going to be a factor at trial or sentencing and the person couldn’t otherwise afford to hire one privately.
Read MoreCooper v. Oklahoma (1996) is the United States Supreme Court decision that forced states to uniformly adopt the “preponderance of evidence” standard for criminal competency hearing.
Read More