In Barrie over the last week a jury agonised over whether a mother who drowned her children was responsible.
A few months ago a man found not criminally responsible and sent to mental hospital was brought before the Court because he weren't hospitalised but rather was jailed.
The number of people in jail with mental issues (even ignoring addiction problems) is staggering. That makes sense -- most often people who fail to follow society's basic rules are not so much evil as incapable. In a very real sense, society's response to the mentally disordered is jail.
Now, from one standpoint that's not unreasonable. Separation of dangerous people from society is a very legitimate goal of the criminal justice system. Whether insane or not, people who are serial killers must be isolated from society. That said, apart from people like Russell Williams, most everyone who goes into jail eventually comes out. And that can include some very dangerous people - people who have not learned better ways to follow society's rules in jail.
The traditional view of the criminal justice system (and the one our Federal Government espouses) is that punishment will deter criminals. But how are the mentally disordered ever deterred? And are they ever better on release than on being taken into jail?
The questions answer themselves. The mentally disordered are not deterred and they get worse in jail.
That doesn't mean we should say jail is pointless. Rather it means we have to accept that jail is often a proxy for hospital. Treatment and rehabilitation must be real. Many years ago Bill Davis proposed merging the administration of schools and prisons in a Super Ministry -- his idea was mocked but the underlying theme makes sense.
Those who are too dangerous to allow in society must be removed from society forever. Those who can be rehabilitated should be rehabilitated. Punishment should not be the goal -- protection of society should be paramount.
6 comments:
is there a link to the Williams/painkiller story?
"most everyone who goes into jail eventually comes out. And that can include some very dangerous people - people who have not learned better ways to follow society's rules in jail."
And just why is that? Do you not take any personal responsibility as both a Liberal and a lawyer for the mockery of justice that your kind has wrought? The system you have created is based upon rehabilitation and yet you state that it does fail in many instances. You can take shots about punishment and the mentally ill all you want but the fact is it was Liberals and defense lawyers who created a system where the safety of the public is secondary.
Dear lord Rat, why must you insist on being so uneducated on this topic. Try reading what Morton said.
The criminal justice system was set up to punish people for their crimes. The fact that it also attempts to rehabilitate them is not a substitute for rehabilitation outside the criminal system. There is not nearly enough resources in prisons to address the many, many mental health issues faced by the prison population. Addressing these social concerns must happen outside the prison setting.
If you really and truly want to see crime reduced, you might want to educate yourself on how to accomplish that.
Good god, Gayle, take the time to read what I wrote! The system lets dangerous people out for Christ's sake, even our very educated and overly Liberal host says so. Tell me how that happened. When did we become more focused on rehabilitation rather than what should be the primary concern of "corrections"; the safety of the public. Your own public safety minister under that piece of crap Trudeau said that public safety wasn't a concern. You should stop being such a condescending (adjective not really appropriate for Mr. Morton's valuable site), only liberals think anyone who disagrees with them need "education"
"The system lets dangerous people out for Christ's sake, even our very educated and overly Liberal host says so. Tell me how that happened."
I thought I already explained this.
The criminal justice system punishes people for their crimes. Once that punishment is done it is done. Except in very rare cases our system does not jail someone out of fear of future actions.
For example, someone who commits a minor assault, who is also seriously mentally ill and at risk to cause more harm cannot be jailed indefinately for the assault. Our system of criminal justice was never about jailing people because they are mentally ill. There are other systems in place that are supposed to handle those problems.
Like I say, if you want crime reduction you have to look outside the criminal justice system. It is simply not set up to do that. This has nothing to do with being or not being a liberal. It is about taking the time to educate yourself on how to address crime.
It's not really me or Liberals/liberals. Since the Bloody Code (death penalty for everything just about) was eliminared in the 1800s criminals are released eventually. Longer or shorter makes little difference in terms of separation from society. My point is, if we are going to use prison, we better try to improve people when they are there -- and that has not even been seriously tried for a long time.
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