Criminally Responsible Reform

As a whole, literature on the topic of mental illness in our country and specifically in our criminal justice system had a reoccurring theme. There are millions of individuals who suffer from mental illness but are improperly being handled through the criminal justice system. These individuals are deemed criminal just by their acts and their mental health state is not overly examine. Jails and prisons are being overcrowded. State prisons and jails are overpopulated anywhere from 15 to 32% (Spending Money in All the Wrong Places: Jails & Prisons).

The American Flag is perhaps the most symbolic piece of art representing the United States; the 50 stars represent the 50 states; the colors symbolize valor, purity and justice; and the 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies. But for some, these stripes also represent the 2.2 million people held in the American criminal justice system, moreover they represent the disproportionate rate that minorities in the U.S. are incarcerated. What some consider the greatest democracy in the world, is really a camera-obsucra, inverting the reality of what freedom and justice mean in the United States. Nixon’s war on drugs during the 1970’s, that declared drugs as the most important public enemy, leading to the spike in racial and ethnic

The way the criminal justice system should handle crimes has always been a debated subject. For over the last forty years, ever since the war on drugs, there are more policies made to be “tough on crime”. From then, correctional systems have grown and as people are doing more crimes, there are plenty of punishments for them. In the mid 1970’s, rehabilitation was the main concern for the criminal justice system. It was common that when someone was convicted of a crime, they would be sentenced to prison but there would also be diagnosed treatments to help them as well. Most likely, they would have committed a crime due to psychological problems. When they receive treatment in prison, they can be healed and would not go back to their wrong lifestyle they had lived before. As years have gone by, people thought that it was better to take a more punitive stance in the criminal justice system. As a result of the turnaround of this more punitive criminal justice system, the United States now has more than 2 million people in prisons or jails--the equivalent of one in every 142 U.S. residents--and another four to five million people on probation or parole. The U.S. has a higher percentage of the

Since our justice system is designed to punish those who have deliberately chosen to do something wrong, there is a defence for those who have a “disease of the mind” (Verdun-Jones, Criminal Law in Canada, 2015, p. 206) because they, technically speaking, did not choose to do so in their right mind. Such defence is the defence of “not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder” (Verdun-Jones, Criminal Law in Canada, 2015, p. 204). As stated in section 16(1) of the Criminal Code (Carswell, 2015):

Prison reform is an issue that has been a concern for a long period of time. The problems that Angela Davis brings up throughout her book are only some of the problems with the prison system. Whether it be the influence of corporations on prisons and legislators, the role that racism plays, or the safety of the prisoners. Her solution to these problems is the abolition of jails and prisons by creating policies that will reduce the number of people sent to prison. This would destroy the prison system as the main concept of punishment. The ways that she aims to do this is by providing physical and mental care to everybody, demilitarize schools, and change the justice system to one based around reconciliation rather than retribution. I find myself to agree with many of the concerns that she lists and believe her argument to be somewhat convincing. However, I do not believe that a complete abolition of prisons is what is necessary to fix the prison system. This paper will explore the concerns that she voices in her argument, how convincing I find them, and what I believe to be the flaws in her conclusion.

In most cases, the Actus Reus, meaning a “guilty act” would be present, however may vary for the case for the Mens Rea element, meaning a “guilty mind”. Without either of these two elements, the defendant is not guilty, which can apply in the cases for Not Criminally Responsible offenders. When understanding the mind of an NCR offender, it is critical to grasp the Mens Rea within the crime because if a mental illness had prevented for the “guilty mind” to be present during the time of the crime, should it really be the mentally ill offender’s fault? Under Section 16 of the Criminal Code of Canada, an individual can only be considered as an NCR offender if either the mental disorder made it impossible for the offender to understand the morality of their actions and/or the offender could not understand the nature or quality of their actions (Legal Aid Ontario, n.d.). A judge can establish an NCR assessment whenever the defendant pleads guilty, however, this may vary from case to case (Legal Aid Ontario, n.d.). The NCR assessment is taken into account when proving the credibility of the mentally ill offender and whether or not their actions were intentionally towards a person when committing the crime (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2013). Therefore, to be considered a NCR offender itself is a difficult argument to prove in court. In addition, the offences that a mentally disordered civilian has been presumed to commit must be proven to the court with the Mens Rea element present. According to a study by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (2013), most NCRMD individuals who have been accused of one of the violent offenses such as homicide, attempted murder, and sexual offences, have been diagnosed in the psychosis spectrum, being 37.8%, while 68.9% (113 individuals studied) had psychosis issues. About 21% have personality disorders, 23.6% with

This defence was originally known as the insanity defence, it was changed to NCRMD in the Criminal Code in 1992 (Wilson, Crocker, Nicholls, Charette, & Seto, 2015). Review boards must take the mental condition of the accused, the safety of the public, the reintegration of the accused into society, and the other needs of the accused into account when making a disposition after the trial, these include absolute discharge, conditional discharge or detention in a

The United States criminal justice system has been continuously increasing incarceration among individuals who suffer from a sever mental illness. As of 2007 individuals with severe mental illness were over twice as likely to be found in prisons than in society (National Commission of Correctional Health Care, 2002, as cited in Litschge &Vaughn, 2009). The offenses that lead to their commitment in a criminal facility, in the majority of cases, derive from symptoms of their mental illness instead of deviant behavior. Our criminal justice system is failing those who would benefit more from the care of a psychiatric rehabilitation facility or psychiatric hospital by placing them in correctional facilities or prisons.

The Criminal Code of Canada provides for the NCRMD defence in section 16, part of which states that: “No person is criminally responsible for an act committed or an omission made while suffering from a mental disorder that rendered the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or omission or of knowing that it was wrong.” In reference to the case of R. v. Chaulk (1990) 3 S.C.R, the Supreme Court of Canada determined that the word ‘wrong’ in reference to all cases of regarding NCRMD means both ‘legally wrong’ and ‘morally wrong.’ In order to claim a NCRMD defence, the defendant must prove on a balance of probabilities that the accused was

Growing up, my father was a prosecutor. I always had this image of good versus evil and thought that these bad people were sent to prisons to be punished for their actions. Throughout this course and through the many readings we were assigned, I have started to see my perspective shift. These ideas of putting people away for committing crimes has been so pounded in my brain over the last twenty years that it is hard to perform a 180. Yet, I feel that know I have a deeper understanding of the complexity to the prison and justice system, realizing that this notion of good v. evil is not reality.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of people between the ages of 18 and 24 that have voted in presidential elections are steadily lower than any other age group (Johnston). What is it about the college age group that has lead to a decrease in their involvement of elections? For Orange is the New Black actress Natasha Lyonne, 37 years old, she is drawn to the polls because of the issue of prison reform (Johnston). This is only one of many examples of the older generation having a personal connection to an issue that drives them to research candidates, fill out the registration forms, and vote. It is because of the college students’ lack of a connection to the issues addressed in elections that has led to low voting rates. To resolve this predicament, a class should be institutionalized at all colleges. For example, there is a class called GOA currently at Xavier University and it is mandatory for all first-year students. It informs students about topics that are not taught in school.

In the United States prisons and jails can be alleviated by changing current laws to not punish certain criminals that have not committed a capital crime. We as a society pay more attention on white collar criminals than murder and rapist therefore giving them a higher sentence than a murderer or rapist. A white collar criminal that money lauders gets a sentence of ten years per incident making the prisons overcrowded. Whereas, in jail many white collar criminals get a misdemeanor creating an over population of convicts hurting populations in large cities. Another, way to alleviate prisons and jails is to execute the already found guilty of capital crimes that was well researched by a jury. In a nutshell, we can relieve overcrowding by reforming

While the criminal justice system is trying to keep the race culture under control and keep communities at ease about police officers targeting people of color. It lacks the ability to control people’s emotions because they feel that no one will hold the police responsible when they make mistakes or step outside their scope of duty. The prosecutors do not offer a clear path of how it will be investigated through their office. They do not look at everything with a fine-tooth comb to make the right decisions. The DA’s office makes fast decisions that either end up in dismissal or a hung jury when taken to trial.

Despite the valiant efforts health care workers have made, suicide remains the leading cause of deaths in Canadian prisons (Olson, 2012). Prevention and education on how to minimize and stop these unfortunate occurrences from happening is vital. In one article, Olson (2012) talks about how although the prison population does continue to grow, there happens to be a lack of funding, as well as an overall lack of support for this particular group of individuals. It is evident that the needs of the mentally abnormal offender comes as a last priority, as a result of their overall vulnerability, which can easily be exploited in these environments. Because they are criminally guilty individuals who have no freedom and minimal legal protection, they

Reducing crime has always been the goal for the correctional system. Punishing and rehabilitation both serve as effective methods in reducing crime. Punishing an offender can mean they have to serve time in jail for a specific amount of time and as a result they are not on the streets. They are not in society to commit any crimes. If the complete their sentence the time spent in jail ultimately shifts their thought process when they think about breaking the law. On the other hand rehabilitation focuses on preparing the offender to live a constructive life outside of confinement. Rehabilitation is a more effective tool than punishing. Schmalleger stated “In the late 1970s, the rehabilitation goal in sentencing