Ark. Code Ann. § 16-80-104

Comprehensive mental health evaluation for a minor convicted of capital murder or murder in the first degree

Applied in 1 court decision — leading case Samantha Edwards, Individually and as Special Administratrix of the Estate of William Bobby Wray Edwards, and Arleigh Grayce Edwards, Deceased; And as Parent and Next Friend for Peyton Hale, a Minor v. Eric James Cornell Thomas and McElroy Truck Lines, Inc. (2021)

Most recently applied in Samantha Edwards, Individually and as Special Administratrix of the Estate of William Bobby Wray Edwards, and Arleigh Grayce Edwards, Deceased; And as Parent and Next Friend for Peyton Hale, a Minor v. Eric James Cornell Thomas and McElroy Truck Lines, Inc. (June 2021)

Acts 2017, No. 539, § 8; 2019, No. 910, §§ 857, 858.

(1) If a comprehensive mental health evaluation is not performed at the request of the minor convicted of capital murder, § 5-10-101, or murder in the first degree, § 5-10-102, before his or her trial or before he or she is sentenced, the circuit court shall ensure that a comprehensive mental health evaluation is conducted on the minor by an adolescent mental health professional licensed in the state before the minor's entry into the Division of Correction for a sentence of life imprisonment.

(2) A comprehensive mental health evaluation ordered under this section shall include without limitation the following information concerning the minor: Family interviews;

(3) Prenatal history;

(4) Developmental history;

(5) Medical history;

(6) History of treatment for substance use;

(7) Social history; and

(8) A psychological evaluation.

(9) A comprehensive mental health evaluation conducted under this section: Is not admissible into evidence at a trial or sentencing over the objections of the minor; and

(10) Shall be included in any documentation or inmate file kept by the Division of Correction or, if the minor is eventually supervised on parole, the Division of Community Correction.

Current official text: Arkansas General Assembly. Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Arkansas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.