Recent high-profile cases like Vince Li and Richard Kachkar have brought to public attention the concept of offenders being designated as "Not Criminally Responsible" vs being sent to prison to be punished for the crime they committed. While few Canadians have been deemed "NCR" and sent to a psychiatric facility where they receive treatment for their mental illness, it still is a topic that is surrounded by controversy and public fear and concern.
In this short article by Global News, Dr. sandy Simpson, chief of forensic psychiatry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health helps to clarify what exactly "an NCR designation means – and doesn’t mean."
"A lot of people seem to think, especially when it comes up in a case like the Luka Magnotta case, that someone [deemed NCR] would effectively be getting away with murder. How would you respond to that?
Well, no. What the NCR verdict recognizes is that there’s a very small number of mentally ill offenders for whom the illness caused the offence. And it makes no rational criminal justice or moral sense to punish an illness.
And that’s why the diversion from the punitive aspect of the criminal justice system. … NCR people are not criminally responsible for what they did, but they are responsible for their wellness and the safety of others going forward. So your progress occurs at whatever speed it takes for you to master the changes in your life, the understanding of your illness and the treatments that are necessary to achieve that."
http://globalnews.ca/news/1588864/magnotta-trial-not-criminally-responsible-myths-debunked/
In this short article by Global News, Dr. sandy Simpson, chief of forensic psychiatry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health helps to clarify what exactly "an NCR designation means – and doesn’t mean."
"A lot of people seem to think, especially when it comes up in a case like the Luka Magnotta case, that someone [deemed NCR] would effectively be getting away with murder. How would you respond to that?
Well, no. What the NCR verdict recognizes is that there’s a very small number of mentally ill offenders for whom the illness caused the offence. And it makes no rational criminal justice or moral sense to punish an illness.
And that’s why the diversion from the punitive aspect of the criminal justice system. … NCR people are not criminally responsible for what they did, but they are responsible for their wellness and the safety of others going forward. So your progress occurs at whatever speed it takes for you to master the changes in your life, the understanding of your illness and the treatments that are necessary to achieve that."
http://globalnews.ca/news/1588864/magnotta-trial-not-criminally-responsible-myths-debunked/
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