The researchers examined the records of 354 defendants referred to the Forensic Clinic from the New York Criminal and Supreme Courts for a competency-to-stand-trial evaluation. The study reviewed the charges in accordance with the finding of competency. The study found that in Manhattan in 1991 there were many defendants found incompetent to stand trial (45 percent). Those found incompetent to stand trial were accused of fewer severe and violent crimes than those defendants found competent to stand trial. These findings are consistent with other research that concludes persons found incompetent to stand trial have been typically charged with misdemeanors and nonviolent offenses. These findings may show a police tendency to detain mentally ill persons on trivial charges to get them off the streets. The presence of so many mentally ill persons on the streets may result from a trend toward the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and laws that permit the civil commitment only of persons diagnosed to be dangerous to themselves or others. 5 tables and 21 references