Author(s)

Publisher

Publication Year

ISBN: 9781552215111

Categories: , , ,

 
View more details about this title
on the publisher's website:

 
This title can be assigned for course purchase in eBook format through Campus eBookstore:

The Death of a Butterfly

Mental Health Court Diaries

Canada has seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of mentally ill people entering the criminal justice system. In Canada and the United States, mental health courts were introduced in the late 1990s as a rehabilitative solution to traditional responses (such as incarceration) that had proven to be ineffective and detrimental to the mentally ill. Recognizing that the criminalization process was neither designed nor intended to address society’s responsibility to the mentally disordered individual, these courts have sought to reverse the misplaced responsibility for the provision of mental health care services.

The Death of a Butterfly explores the mental health court and its relationship with the mentally disordered accused from the perspective of Ontario Court Justice Richard D. Schneider. How do the courts consider the protection of the public while also subscribing to the basic principles of therapeutic jurisprudence? This and other related topics are discussed fully in this collection of vignettes, alongside in-depth accounts of cases tried in the Old City Hall courthouse in Toronto. The tales of life in the mental health court—which served as a vibrant setting for the award-winning CBC series This Is Wonderland—provide a compelling analysis of fitness to stand trial, what it means to be criminally responsible, and the role of mental disorders. Schneider’s honest depictions offer insight into the mentally disordered accused and the factors that place these accused in the justice system.

Contributors

Richard D. Schneider

Hon. Richard D. Schneider, PhD, LLM, CPsych, is a justice of the Ontario Court of Justice, a deputy judge of the Territorial Court of the Yukon, chair of the Ontario Review Board, and an alternate chair of the Nunavut Review Board. He is also an adjunct professor in the faculties of law and medicine at the University of Toronto. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Justice Schneider was a criminal defence lawyer, a clinical psychologist, and counsel to the Ontario Review Board. He has published extensively in the area of mental disorder and the law.

Chapter Title Contents Contributors Pages Year Price

Preview

The introduction discusses the mental health court, and its relationship with the mentally disordered accused from the perspective of Ontario Court Justice Richard D. Schneider. 7 $0.70

Preview

Chapter 1 provides a history of the mental health court, and how the mental health court in Toronto came to be. This chapter also looks into the increase in the numbers of mentally ill people … 38 $3.80

Preview

Chapter 2 discusses the significance of fitness to stand trial in legal proceedings. This is a routine practice in place to ensure that all accused are generally aware of their circumstances and … 39 $3.90

Preview

Chapter 3 explores the role of schizophrenia and the issue of criminal responsibility. For an accused to be deemed not criminally responsible, the court has to find, based upon psychiatric … 85 $8.50

Preview

Chapter 4 explores what it means to be "unfit to stand trial", and the rules around the making of a treatment order. The treatment order is for the involuntary treatment of an accused … 32 $3.20

Preview

Chapter 5 summarizes what we should learn from the existence of mental health courts, and explains how the emergence of mental health courts has transformed the criminal justice landscape for … 15 $1.50