Best practice accused be alerted during plea inquiry of implications of a court-ordered NCR assessment

R. v. Williams, 2011 ONCA 641 deals with a plea followed by an NCR assessment. The Court of Appeal suggests that the judge should alert an accused, where an NCR assessment would likely follow, of the implications of that so as to ensure a properly informed plea is taken:


[1]              On the basis of the record before us, as augmented by the materials filed by amicus counsel, we are persuaded that there is good reason to believe that the applicant did not fully appreciate when he entered his guilty plea that an NCR assessment and determination was in the offing.  In this sense, therefore, the applicant's plea to the NCR offences may not have been an informed one.

[2]              We observe that it would be useful in cases of this kind if the presiding judge alerted the accused during the requisite plea inquiry at trial as to the implications of a court-ordered NCR assessment and finding.