Effective beginning with offenses committed on or after December 1, 2025, Part V. of Session law 2023-114 significantly revised North Carolina’s law governing capacity to proceed in delinquency cases. The changes included creation of new credentialing requirements for juvenile forensic evaluators and new procedures for appointing and paying those evaluators. The recently passed state budget makes changes to those appointment and payment procedures that will apply to forensic evaluators appointed on or after December 1, 2026.
Current Law
Juvenile Forensic Evaluation Credentialing
The 2025 juvenile capacity law included significant changes related to juvenile forensic evaluations. G.S. 7B-2401.3. Among them were that the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) was charged with establishing a credentialing body to set minimum standards to qualify professionals to conduct court-appointed juvenile forensic evaluations. G.S. 7B-2401.3(a).
DHHS established the credentialing body and that body set standards to be credentialed to conduct court-appointed juvenile forensic evaluations. The standards are available on the DHHS website and include requirements that the individual:
- Be a mental health professional who holds an active and valid license in North Carolina to practice within their field;
- Has demonstrated experience conducting capacity to proceed evaluations (or “competency to stand trial” in other jurisdictions);
- Has demonstrated experience using psychological tools and tests that are developmentally appropriate for juveniles; and
- Has demonstrated knowledge in child and adolescent development, behavioral health needs, and appropriate methods for evaluating juveniles.
There are currently 26 professionals who are credentialed by DHHS to conduct these evaluations. The list of these credentialed evaluators is available to be downloaded from the DHHS website.
Forensic Evaluation Components and Reports
The 2025 juvenile capacity law also imposed significant requirements for conducting and reporting juvenile forensic evaluations. According to G.S. 7B-2401.3(e), evaluators are bound to consider 1) whether the juvenile is capable to proceed, incapable to proceed, or incapable to proceed with an ability to attain capacity in the foreseeable future with remediation services; 2) the basis of the juvenile’s incapacity (e.g., mental disorder, intellectual disability, neurological disorder, traumatic or acquired brain injury, or developmental immaturity); and 3) the capacity of the juvenile to do each of the following things:
- Appreciate the allegations against them.
- Appreciate the range and nature of allowable dispositions that may be imposed in the proceedings.
- Understand the roles of the participants and the adversary nature of the legal process.
- Disclose to counsel facts pertinent to the proceedings at issue.
- Display appropriate courtroom behavior.
- Testify regarding the relevant issues.
- Make reasonable and rational decisions.
- Assist in their defense in a rational manner.
The evaluator may also consider any other factors they deem relevant.
The evaluator is also required to complete and submit a written report to the court. G.S. 7B-2401.3(f). Those reports must do all of the following:
- Identify the specific matters referred to the forensic evaluator by the juvenile court for evaluation.
- Include notification to the juvenile of the nature, purpose, and anticipated use or uses of the examination and applicable limits of confidentiality.
- Describe the procedures, techniques, and tests used in the forensic evaluation of the juvenile and the purposes of each.
- Describe the considerations considered by the forensic evaluator.
- State any clinical observations, findings, and opinions of the forensic evaluator on each issue referred to the forensic evaluator for evaluation by the court and specifically indicate any issues on which the forensic evaluator was unable to give an opinion.
- Identify the sources of information used by the forensic evaluator and present the factual basis for any clinical observations, findings, and opinions of the forensic evaluator.
- Address any other issues ordered by the court.
If the evaluator determines that the juvenile is incapable to proceed, the report must also include any recommended treatment or education needed for the juvenile to attain capacity and the likelihood that the juvenile will attain capacity in the foreseeable future because of that recommendation. G.S. 7B-2401.3(g)(1), (2). The report must also include the probable duration of the recommended treatment or education needed to attain capacity and the least restrictive environment in which the service can be provided to the juvenile. G.S. 7B-2401.3(g)(3), (4).
Appointment of and Payment for Evaluators
Currently the court can only appoint a forensic evaluator who is appropriately credentialed by DHHS. G.S. 7B-2401.2(b). The court is also tasked with determining a reasonable fee for evaluator payment “in accordance with reimbursement guidelines maintained by the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts.” G.S. 7B-2401.3(h). However, there are no such reimbursement guidelines. The issue of payment of juvenile forensic evaluators has therefore been a barrier to obtaining capacity evaluations since the 2025 law was implemented.
New Law
Changes regarding appointment and payment for juvenile forensic evaluators were enacted as part of the recently passed state budget. S.L. 2026-41 §19.11.(a). The changes affect who can be appointed to conduct the capacity evaluation and how that evaluator will be paid. The changes will apply to forensic evaluators appointed on or after December 1, 2026. S.L. 2026-41 § 19.11.(b).
When the new law takes effect, the court can only appoint a local forensic evaluator who is both 1) employed by, or under contract with, a Local Management Entity/Managed Care Organization (LME/MCO) and 2) certified by DHHS to conduct juvenile forensic evaluations. It is not clear if the current professionals who are credentialed by DHHS to conduct juvenile forensic evaluations are also employed by or under contract with an LME/MCO. The gap in time between passage of the new law and its implementation offers an opportunity both for the existing credentialed evaluators to enter into a formal relationship with an LME/MCO and for new evaluators who are in a formal relationship with an LME/MCO to become credentialed by DHHS.
The new law also changes the payment structure for juvenile capacity evaluations. The court will no longer be tasked with determining a reasonable fee. Instead, evaluators will be paid by the LME/MCO with public funds. This was generally the payment structure for local forensic evaluations in delinquency cases before the 2025 capacity law was enacted. Under that former construct, there were no formal statutory requirements related to the components of the juvenile forensic evaluation or the required reports. When these changes to payment for the evaluators takes effect in December, evaluators will continue to be bound by the enhanced requirements for their evaluations and reports described above. How the LME/MCO takes these requirements into account when setting the payment rate for the evaluations remains to be seen.
In the Meantime
Courts continue to be bound by the existing law until the changes to appointment and payment of evaluators take effect on December 1st. My impression is that localities have used various approaches to obtaining payment for juvenile forensic evaluations since the law changed in 2025. These creative strategies will continue to be needed until the new law takes effect in December.
