Competency is a legal term, defined as: "duly qualified: having sufficient capacity, ability, or authority"
[Black's Law Dictionary].
Mental
capacity is a functional term that may be defined as: the "mental (or cognitive) ability to understand
the nature and effects of one's acts."
There
are many ways to assess mental capacity. Three common models are the philosophical/legal, medical,
and functional models. Each has significant benefits and limitations. PARADISE-2, a behavior-based
protocol, maximizes the strengths of previous models, while minimizing their limitations. Designed for
potential litigation settings, PARADISE-2 is used by attorneys, law enforcement, social service personnel,
physicians, and nurses in many parts of the Western Hemisphere. PARADISE-2 was used by the United Nation's
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ("ICTY") in the war-crimes trial of Gen. Pavle Strugar - the
first trial of its kind since the Nuremberg Trials. Due, in part, to PARADISE-2, the Tribunal
created new international legal precedent affecting all future war-crime tribunals.