ABSTRACT
Presentencing psychiatric evaluations can be requested by the defense or prosecuting attorney. e purpose of these evaluations is to assist the judge or jury in answering one or more of the following questions following criminal conviction: (1) Is the defendant competent to be sentenced? (Miller 2003, 203-204), (2) What treatment recommendations, if any, should be considered by the sentencing authority? and (3) How severe or lenient should the punishment be? (Felthous 1989). Pre-capital sentencing evaluations are addressed in Chapter 11 and so will not be discussed here.
