In Canada, individuals accused of a criminal offence can raise a defence of Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder (NCRMD), stating they were suffering from a mental disorder that rendered them incapable of appreciating the nature or quality of the act, or of appreciating that it was wrong. Individuals found NCRMD are then rendered under the jurisdiction of a provincial mental health review board tasked with evaluating whether or not the individual represents a significant risk to the safety of the public. This study adopted a methodological approach using qualitative content analysis to investigate the construction of risk in the decision-making process of the Ontario Mental Health Review Board (ORB). Results from the analysis of 30 printed rationales for decision, the justificatory document for any disposition made by a review board, indicate some ambiguity in conceptualizing risk and justifying the dispositions made by the ORB. In an effort to open the black-box of these justificatory documents, this study notes the objectivity effect of a medicalized language that obfuscates understanding of terms used by the ORB to justify risk assessments. Ultimately, the complexity of the notion of risk is reduced to a function of medical-biological psychiatric diagnostics and intervention, community or social normativity, and secondary risk management (defensive decision-making by professionals involved in the review process). These interpretations are then discussed in terms of policy implications under a new politics of uncertainty (Power, 2004).

OBJECTIVES: (1) Describe the population of mentally ill offenders over whom Ontario Review Board (ORB) held jurisdiction. (2) Assess the influences of psychopathology and criminal factors on criminal career. METHOD: This study was a retrospective case series design that reviewed all offenders who were court ordered for psychiatric evaluation at Mental Health Services Site of Providence Care in Kingston, Ontario from 1993 to 2007 (N=347). Eighty five subjects were found not criminally responsible on the account of mental disorder and were included in statistical analysis (n=85). Bivariate associations between five key variables and two outcome variables, seriousness of crime and recidivism, were examined. Logistic regressions were conducted to test the role of the predictor variables on the outcome variables. RESULTS: Age and change in principal psychiatric diagnosis over time were shown to be associated with seriousness of crime. Timing of psychiatric onset, early signs of deviance and change in diagnosis were shown to be associated with recidivism. On the whole, study population did not markedly vary in their distribution of variables by the outcome variables. Regression model included timing of psychiatric onset; psychiatric history; existence of criminal associate; child abuse history; and early signs of deviance. Recidivism was shown to be predicted by early signs of deviance (OR=8.154, p<0.05). Existence of criminal associates was shown to have substantial values of odds ratio at marginal significance (OR=7.577, p=0.13). CONCLUSION: Seriousness of crime is a complex factor that could not be sufficiently predicted by any one or combinations of study variables. Recidivism is better predicted by criminality factors than psychopathology. In the future, an exploratory analysis that more broadly examines the psychopathology and criminal factors in Canadian forensic population is needed. Findings from this study have important clinical and legal implications. / Thesis (Master, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-08-10 10:35:13.036

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Depuis les années 1990, un nombre grandissant d’accusés sont déclarés non criminellement responsables pour cause de troubles mentaux au Canada (NCRTM). Si certains craignent que ce verdict représente une échappatoire à la punition et libère des individus dangereux en collectivité, d’autres s’interrogent à savoir si cette défense n’occasionnerait pas plus de contrôle qu’une peine dans le système pénal traditionnel. Certains questionnent également la capacité des Commissions d’examen à prendre des décisions qui s’écartent de la rationalité du système punitif. Objectif : Cette étude a pour but de comparer la supervision imposée aux accusés NCRTM à celle des accusés coupables et responsables (CR). Cette comparaison cherche à observer les particularités des trajectoires (durées de supervision et de détention et présence de détention dans le suivi) de ces populations, dans trois provinces canadiennes (Québec, Ontario, Colombie-Britannique) entre 2000 et 2008. Deux sources de données ont été utilisées, soit celle du National Trajectory Project of Individuals Found Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder in Canada pour les accusés NCRTM et celle de l’Enquête sur les tribunaux de juridiction criminelle de Statistiques Canada pour ceux déclarés CR. Résultats : Les résultats des régressions de Cox et logistiques indiquent que les accusés NCRTM sont près de trois fois et quatre fois moins susceptibles d’être libérés rapidement de supervision et de détention et sont cinq fois plus susceptibles d’être détenus que les accusés CR. Des différences importantes sont présentes dans les pratiques des provinces, mais de manière significativement plus importante chez les accusés NCRTM. / Since the 1990’s, the number of individuals found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder has increased in Canada. However, the NCRMD verdict remains controversial. While some fear that the verdict is a loophole and releases dangerous individuals in the community, others suggest that this defense could cause more control than a sentence in the criminal justice system. Some also question the ability of Review Boards to leave aside the punitive rationale in the decision-making process. Objective: This study examines the supervison practices imposed to NCRMD accused by comparing them with those applied to offenders found guilty and responsible (GR). This comparison aims to highlight the specificities these two populations’ trajectories (length of supervision, length of detention and presence of detention in follow-up), in three Canadian provinces (Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia) between 2000 and 2008. Two datasets were used. The first comprises individuals found NCRMD (n = 1794) and comes from the National Trajectory Project of Individuals Found Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder in Canada. The second comprises GR offenders (n = 320,919) and comes from Statistics Canada's Criminal Court Survey. Results: The Cox and logistic regressions results show that NCRMD individuals are almost three times and four times likely to be released from legal supervision and detention respectively compared to GR offenders, and are five times more likely to be detained during follow-up. Provincial differences were also observed, theses disparities being significantly greater among NCRMD individuals.