History

AuthorRichard D. Schneider
Pages11-46
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 1
HISTORY
[  ]
1
    an “in thing” in the criminal justice sys-
tem here in Canada and elsewhere around the world. They started
in the late s in Canada and the United States, so they not a
new phenomenon at this point. The American mental health courts
are based upon the model of the previously established drug courts.
The American model, at the risk of oversimplication, requires the
accused (charged with a criminal oence) who has volunteered to
participate, to enter in to a rehabilitative program. First, the accused
pleads guilty. Then, when that program has been completed, the
accused receives a reduced or alternative sentence, or, in some juris-
dictions, the charges are withdrawn or stayed.
While these courts started in Toronto and Broward County, Flor-
ida, at about the same time, the paradigms are quite dierent. In
Toronto’s system, which diers from that in Broward County, the
accused does not plead guilty, and there is no admission of respons-
ibility. Then, at the conclusion of the rehabilitative program, the
charges are withdrawn by the Crown. However, what these so-called
problem-solving courts do have in common is the goal of decrimin-
alizing the mentally ill. The philosophy driving the courts is based
upon the principles of “therapeutic jurisprudence”: the recognition
that when individuals come into contact with the law, they are dir-
ectly impacted by that experience. While this may, at rst blush,
appear to be rather trite, it is worthy of some further consideration.
The point is that this impact is not neutral; it is either positive or

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