Fitness: What is the Role of Psychometric Assessment?

The notion of fitness to plead is an essential part of the criminal responsibility component of the western judicial system. It is therefore important that clinicians undertaking fitness assessments use state of the art tools. Appropriate psychometric fitness tools exist which measure psycho-legal concepts relevant to western fitness concepts. However, clinicians appear to rely on traditional psychological measures of intelligence and psychopathology. The training of forensic graduates may help change this current situation. Meanwhile, currently practising clinicians undertaking fitness assessments need additional training in the use of appropriate fitness tools and in psycho-legal concepts.