Mental health diversion is a type of diversion. Mental health diversion involves a way of resolving or dealing with criminal charges in a manner that doesn’t involve a guilty plea or a trial. Usually an accused person will have to take responsibility for their actions. Just as mental health courts operate in many different ways,…

Many different criminal court proceedings can happen in mental health court. Some mental health courts deal only with assessment orders or mental health diversion. Other mental health courts do almost everything, including bail hearings, guilty pleas, judicial pre‑trials, and some trials for accused persons with mental health issues. Mental health courts are designed to deal…

No. There are too many serious long-term consequences that can come from an NCR assessment for duty counsel to assist with this type of matter. If either an unrepresented accused or the Crown is seeking an NCR assessment, duty counsel will not assist. An accused should have his or her own lawyer if this situation…

If an NCR assessment is requested by either the Crown or the accused’s lawyer, it will usually be after the accused has pled guilty or has been found guilty after a trial, and there is some evidence to suggest that they were suffering from a mental disorder at the time they committed a criminal offence….

An NCR assessment can be ordered by a judge to determine whether a person who was suffering from a mental disorder at the time they committed an offence was criminally responsible for his or her actions. Much like a fitness assessment, in most cases the person being assessed is sent to a secure psychiatric facility…

NCR stands for “Not Criminally Responsible.” It is defined in section 16 of the Criminal Code. Section 16 of the Criminal Code states that a person is not criminally responsible for something that he or she did (or didn’t do, if they were legally required to do something) if they were suffering from a mental disorder at…

Hospitals and psychiatric facilities are often full or nearly full of patients, so it is usually difficult to get a facility to agree to examine the accused. Also, fitness assessments and not criminally responsible assessments are often given priority at facilities over Mental Health Act (MHA) examinations. Unlike other types of assessments (such as fitness assessments),…

The senior physician (doctor) at the facility where the examination occurred must report, in writing, on the mental condition of the accused. The judge, the accused (or his/her lawyer) and the Crown all get a copy of the report. The report is often used to assist with sentencing the accused, but may be used for…

An examination under s. 22 cannot be longer than two months. The judge can make the examination for a shorter period if he or she wishes. This is usually only an issue if an in‑custody examination order is made under section 22 of the MHA.

For a judge to make an order under section 21 or 22 of the Mental Health Act, two things must happen: the judge must have reason to believe that the accused has a mental disorder; and the psychiatric facility where the examination will take place must agree to do the examination.