When the facts and evidence don’t fit your ideology, ignore it. The Conservative Bill C-14 gets “tough” on the mentally ill. “The numbers of mentally ill individuals in the criminal justice system is on the rise. Harsher treatment of NCR offenders designated as “high risk” is likely to encourage defence lawyers to ensure their mentally ill clients are prosecuted under regular justice system rules, where they receive no court-ordered treatment and can be back on the streets sooner. The effect could therefore be to undermine public safety rather than enhance it.”
A law enacted last year allows courts to impose harsher terms on mentally ill offenders declared not criminally responsible and was sold as a measure that would improve public safety. But an unpublished Justice Department report says the legislation could have the opposite effect.