458
Blackmun, J., dissenting
sense of their innocence." N. Morris, Madness and the Criminal Law 37 (1982).
This Court's cases are clear that the right to be tried while competent is so critical a prerequisite to the criminal process that "state procedures must be adequate to protect this right." Pate, 383 U. S., at 378 (emphasis added). "[T]he failure to observe procedures adequate to protect a defendant's right not to be tried or convicted while incompetent to stand trial deprives him of his due process right to a fair trial." Drope, 420 U. S., at 172. In other words, the Due Process Clause does not simply forbid the State to try to convict a person who is incompetent. It also demands adequate anticipatory, protective procedures to minimize the risk that an incompetent person will be convicted. Justice Frankfurter recognized this in a related context: "If the deeply rooted principle in our society against killing an insane man is to be respected, at least the minimum provision for assuring a fair application of that principle is inherent in the principle itself." Solesbee v. Balkcom, 339 U. S. 9, 23 (1950) (dissenting opinion). Anticipatory protective procedures are necessary as well because "we have previously emphasized the difficulty of retrospectively determining an accused's competence to stand trial." Pate, 383 U. S., at 387. See also Drope, 420 U. S., at 183; Dusky v. United States, 362 U. S. 402, 403 (1960). See generally Miller & Germain, The Retrospective Evaluation of Competency to Stand Trial, 11 Int'l J. Law and Psych. 113 (1988). This Court expressly has recognized that one of the required procedural protections is "further inquiry" or a hearing when there is a sufficient doubt raised about a defendant's competency. Drope, 420 U. S., at 180; Pate, 383 U. S., at 385-386. In my view, then, the only question before the Court in this case is whether—as with the right to a hearing—placing the burden of proving competence on the State is necessary to protect adequately the underlying due proc-
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