State hospitals: placement evaluations.

Existing law establishes the State Department of State Hospitals for the administration of state hospitals and provides for the involuntary confinement of certain individuals in those state hospitals, including defendants who have been found incompetent to stand trial and defendants found to be guilty of a crime, or who have plead not guilty by reason of insanity, and found to be insane at the time he or she committed the crime. Existing law requires a court, when a defendant pleads not guilty by reason of insanity or if there is a question as to the defendant's mental competence, to appoint a specified number of psychiatrists or psychologists to examine the defendant. This bill would require the State Department of State Hospitals to establish, within the department, a pool of psychiatrists and psychologists with forensic skills and would require evaluation panels to be created from the pool of psychiatrists and psychologists, as specified. The bill would require the court to order an evaluation panel to evaluate a defendant who pleads not guilty by reason of insanity or who may be mentally incompetent. The bill would make conforming changes.