PSYCH 3CC3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Mental Health Law, James Hadfield, Actus Reus
10 Apr 2017
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Chapter 8: the role of mental illness in court. A defendant who is deficient in these domains, possibly because of mental disorder, may be considered unfit to stand trial. Thus, unfit to stand trial refers to a defendant"s inability to conduct a defence at any stage of the proceedings on account of a mental disorder. In recent canadian case, r vs balliram- it was concluded that an unfit person could not be sentenced. The case of r vs prichard (1836) has been considered they key case for the fitness standards, these criteria include: 1. Whether the defendant is mute of malice (ie. intentionality: 2. Whether the defendant can plead to the indictment: 3. Whether the defendant has sufficient cognitive capacity to understand the trial proceedings. With the enactment of bill c-30 (1992), the criminal code, stated a fitness standard- this standard can be found in section 2 of the code.
