WEST GERMANY, UNLIKE OTHER GERMAN-SPEAKING COUNTRIES, CONTINUES TO EMPHASIZE 'COMPETENCE TO UNDERSTAND GUILT' RATHER THAN 'MENTAL COMPETENCE,' PROBABLY AS A RESULT OF POSTWAR LAWMAKERS' ATTEMPTS TO CORRECT ABUSES OF JUSTICE DURING THE HITLER PERIODS BY DEFINING EXTENUATING INDIVIDUAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE CONDITIONS FOR MENTAL COMPETENCE UNDER THE 1975 LAW (E.G., ELEMENTAL DISTURBANCES OF CONSCIOUSNESS, MENTAL RETARDATION, AND OTHER SERIOUS MENTAL ABNORMALITIES) ARE BROADER THAN THOSE OF OTHER GERMAN-SPEAKING COUNTRIES. THE GERMAN LAWS ALONE PROVIDE NO FURTHER DIFFERENTIATED NORMATIVE DIAGNOSTIC CONCEPTS, WHICH HAS PLACED JUDGES IN THE UNTENABLE SITUATION OF HAVING TO ESTABLISH WHETHER THE OFFENDER COULD HAVE AVOIDED HIS FAILURE TO PERCEIVE WRONG-DOING AND TO ASSESS ALL SUBJECTIVE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE OFFENSE AND OFFENDER. THE EXCESSIVE INFLUENCE OF FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGISTS CAN BE TURNED TO THE ADVANTAGE OF WILY INTELLECTUAL OFFENDERS. CRIMINAL LAW SCHOLARS AGREE THAT GUILT IS DETERMINED THROUGH CAREFULLY CONSIDERED VALUE JUDGMENTS RATHER THAN THROUGH EMPIRICALLY OBJECTIFIABLE FINDINGS, ALTHOUGH THERE IS LITTLE AGREEMENT ON HOW THE OFFENDER'S COMPETENCE, I.E., FREEDOM OF CHOICE BETWEEN FOLLOWING OR NOT FOLLOWING NORMS, CAN BE DEFINED IN CONCRETE PSYCHOLOGICAL TERMS. THE EXPERT PSYCHIATRIST IS TO SUPPLY HIS VERSION OF WHAT TRANSPIRED IN THE MIND OF THE OFFENDER AND HOW A GIVEN DISEASE AFFECTED HIS THINKING; THE JUDGE ALONE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRANSLATING THIS INTO NORMATIVE LEGAL CONCEPTS. FOR SOME FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGISTS, AGNOSTICISM REGARDING THE FREE-WILL ISSUE IS CAPITULATION BEFORE THE PROBLEM OF ASCERTAINING AN OFFENDER'S ACTUAL CAPACITY TO DECIDE. A YOUNGER SCHOOL OF FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGISTS STRESSES THE NEED TO CONSIDER SOCIAL FACTORS AND TO SEPARATE THE PSYCHIATRIC FROM THE LEGAL NOTION OF ILLNESS. PARTIAL MENTAL COMPETENCE MUST BE VIEWED AS A SUBFORM OF MENTAL COMPETENCE, AND WEST GERMANY SHOULD FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF AUSTRIA BY DROPPING THE SPECIAL NORMS FOR PARTIAL INCOMPETENCE, WHILE MAINTAINING THE POTENTIAL FOR REDUCED SENTENCES IN OTHER PARAGRAPHS. A POSTCRIPT ON MENTAL COMPETENCE FROM AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STANDPOINT, TABLES, AND NOTES ARE PROVIDED. --IN GERMAN. (KMD)