Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder - Legal Perspectives

In Canada individuals charged with criminal offences can be found by the courts to be Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder (NCR-MD). The Criminal Code of Canada (CCC) indicates that individuals who commit offences when their mental disorder is active and that this disorder prevents them from appreciating the nature and quality of those acts or know that they were wrong can be given the special verdict of NCR-MD. These individuals fall under the jurisdiction of provincial review boards. The Ontario Review Board holds annual hearings for these individuals to determine if the patient (also known as the accused) continues to pose a significant threat to the safety of the public. If no significant threat is found they are released. If significant threat is found, the Board issues a legal disposition with a range of privileges that the patient may enjoy over the next year. It is not a punitive system but a system to reintegrate and rehabilitate the mentally ill. This talk will address the legal perspectives of this system. A case study will be presented.