This chapter traces the author’s entry into the field of psychology and law in the late 1960s and 1970s. His interests began when he was an undergraduate working in a state mental hospital during the early years of the deinstitutionalization movement, followed by his involvement in creating a pretrial diversion program while he was a graduate student. The chapter then turns to the author’s seminal studies of competence to stand trial and reviews the advances in the field that have led to more structured, reliable, and valid assessments of competence as well as community-based alternatives for assessment and treatment. The chapter concludes with an assessment of progress and ongoing challenges.
