RACE, COMPETENCE TESTING, AND DISABILITY LAW - A REVIEW OF THE MACARTHUR COMPETENCE RESEARCH

In studying competence to make decisions relating to psychiatric treat ment, the MacArthur study found that various factors, including diagno sis of schizophrenia, denial of mental illness, and involuntary status , were correlated with the authors' determinations of incompetence. Ac cording to other research, each of these factors is significantly asso ciated with the experience of Black men in the mental health system, B lack men are far more frequently diagnosed-and misdiagnosed-as schizop hrenic, tend to deny mental illness more, and are far more frequently involuntarily institutionalized than White men. This suggests that alt hough the MacArthur study is a clear improvement over past research in a number of ways, it should focus more on race, gender, and class iss ues in the determination of incompetence.