[Dion]

What the justice system says

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1999 that a review board must order an absolute discharge if a person doesn't pose a significant threat to public safety.

The ruling added there must be clear evidence of a significant risk to the public for the review board to continue imposing conditions after a person is found not criminally responsible.

Archie Kaiser, an expert in mental health and the law at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said there's a poor public understanding of what "not criminally responsible" means. The emphasis must be on the individual's treatment and potential risk to the community, not on punishment.

"There is widespread stigma and prejudice when it concerns people with mental illness and that's something that persons found not criminally responsible bear in double measure," Kaiser said.

"People think if you have a serious mental-health problem that you're going to act unpredictably, that you're incapable of making decisions and you're dangerous, whereas none of those things are likely to be true."

Kaiser also suggested involvement with the justice system serves to amplify concerns about an individual, "so people have at least two levels of prejudice that they're fighting against."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...says-1.3960785