Essay On Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act

It has long been acknowledged that an offender who, due to mental disorder, is incapable of understanding the nature and quality of a criminal act, or of knowing that it was wrong, should not be convicted. Bill C-54 the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act deals with the accused who has been found Criminally Responsible because of mental disorder. Not Criminally Responsible (NCR) is defined in Section 16 of the Canadian Criminal Code, stating that if someone is deemed NCR he or she can not be held accountable for the offence they committed, if at that time they were suffering from a mental disorder. The Bill will enact three main factors which will affect the mental disorder regime in the Criminal Code and the National Defence Act. The Bill

The crucial issue will be in finding out whether the criminal act committed was a result of a mental disorder or immoral behaviour. If an accused goes into an automatic state and assaults or kills another person due to ordinary teasing or nagging, the accused is more likely to be categorized as having a disease of the mind because it can be argued that the accused was incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of their action whereas, a person who goes into an automatic state after a rare event such as seeing a loved one assaulted or killed and does the same would be convicted of murder (Roach 220). The legislation fails to incorporate erratic circumstances such as the example given above, and leaves it in a grey area because the situation can be debated as an automatic reaction where the person did not actually have the mens rea nor the actus rea of committing the crime but was a sudden

If Bill C-54 was to come into effect one of the major changes it would bring is having a new category of “high-risk” accused, and being hospitalized for a minimum of three years without having the opportunity to see a review board. This amendment is not only a charter violation but has no proof that depriving the accused of meeting a review board before the three years will serve as a beneficial purpose that will help them reintegrate into society. Section seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice”. By holding the NCR accused in the hospital one can say that they are being robbed of there right to liberty without any actual evidence that doing so will in fact have a positive result. Chris Curry who has been working with forensic mental health services commented on the proposed legislation saying: “There are a few glaring errors in this legislation. Say, for example, someone goes off their medication and ends up committing a violent offense. They are caught, and within months are stabilized on proper medication. Now, for the next two and a half years, they have to live in a locked