Mental health court long overdue

An editorial from the October 23rd edition of The Chronicle Herald:

IT’S BEEN a long time coming.

Ontario did it 10 years ago. New Brunswick followed suit five years ago.

The Nova Scotia government promised it a year ago in its throne speech, but it will be another six months before it’s up and running.

The good news, however, is that staff are being hired and facilities are being built to accommodate the province’s first mental health court, slated to open at the Dartmouth Justice Centre next April 1. It will be well worth the wait and the investment – about $1.8 million annually, plus $500,000 in additional start-up costs in Year 1.

It has been obvious for years now that the criminal justice system is ill-equipped to deal with offenders with mental health issues.

The goal of a mental health court, as outlined in the province’s crime prevention strategy released last year, is to hold mentally ill offenders "accountable for their behaviour in a way that is supportive and sensitive to their illness."

In other jurisdictions, defendants who end up in a mental health court have typically committed crimes punishable by less than two years’ imprisonment.

If they were to go through normal channels, they would serve out their time in a provincial jail if the sentence includes a period of incarceration. The trouble is that throughout the entire criminal justice process, little gets done to address the underlying issue: the offender’s mental health problems.

Mental health courts change that dynamic. While jail remains an option, offenders usually spend less time there and get more access to mental health services instead.

Mental health courts do not – contrary to some public perceptions – give offenders an opportunity to "plead insanity" and to get off scot-free. (Besides, one can suffer from any number of mental or behavioural disorders and remain perfectly sane.)

Indeed, under the mental health court model Nova Scotia is developing, the accused must first be determined fit to stand trial and show a willingness to take responsibility for their actions.

The emphasis under this system is on dealing with the offender through teamwork as much as it is on dealing with the offence.

This makes eminent sense. It is pointless to fill our jails with mentally ill individuals who are not criminals at heart. It’s intervention they need, not incarceration.

But addressing those needs also requires infrastructure. In future, let’s hope Nova Scotia also sees the wisdom of spending more than a measly four per cent of its health budget on mental health.

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To download this April 2007 issue of The Society Record, click here (PDF).