+ + New South Wales Law Reform Commission Report 138 People with cognitive and mental health impairments in the criminal justice system Criminal responsibility and consequences May 2013 www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lrc Report 138 Criminal responsibility and consequences © New South Wales Law Reform Commission, Sydney, 2013 Copyright permissions This publication may be copied, distributed, displayed, downloaded and otherwise freely dealt with for any personal or non-commercial purpose, on condition that proper acknowledgment is included on all uses. However, you must obtain permission from the NSW Law Reform Commission if you wish to: . charge others for access to the publication (other than at cost); . include all or part of the publication in advertising or a product for sale; or . modify the publication. 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Cataloguing-in-publication Cataloguing-in-publication data is available from the National Library of Australia. ISSN 1030 0244 ISBN 978-0-7347-2682-7 ii NSW Law Reform Commission The Hon G Smith SC MP Attorney General for New South Wales Level 31, Governor Macquarie Tower 1 Farrer Place SYDNEY NSW 2000 Dear Attorney People with cognitive and mental health impairments in the criminal justice system: criminal responsibility and consequences We make this report pursuant to the reference to this Commission received 17 September 2007. The Hon James Wood AO QC Chairperson May 2013 NSW Law Reform Commission iii Report 138 Criminal responsibility and consequences Table of contents Table of contents .......................................................................................................................... iv Participants ................................................................................................................................... xi Terms of reference ...................................................................................................................... xii Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................. xiii Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... xv Recommendations ................................................................................................................. xxviii 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Background to the review ..................................................................................................... 1 This report in context............................................................................................................. 2 NSW 2021 plan .................................................................................................................... 2 Other reviews ....................................................................................................................... 3 Our process ............................................................................................................................ 4 Submissions and consultations ............................................................................................ 4 The scope of this report: criminal responsibility and consequences ..................................... 5 Key issues .............................................................................................................................. 6 Incidence .............................................................................................................................. 6 The criminal justice system in context .................................................................................. 7 Cognitive impairment ............................................................................................................ 8 Working group to address issues relating to cognitive impairment ..................................... 10 What’s in a name? Acknowledging cognitive impairment in law ......................................... 10 Review of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 (NSW) ............................... 13 2. Fitness to be tried ................................................................................................................ 15 The Presser test ................................................................................................................... 16 Procedure ............................................................................................................................. 18 Survey of cases .................................................................................................................... 19 Law and practice relating to fitness in NSW: the need for change? ............................... 20 Decision making capacity ................................................................................................... 21 A statutory requirement of a fair trial? ................................................................................. 25 A requirement of effective participation?............................................................................. 26 Should the scope of fitness provisions be limited to cognitive and mental health impairment? .................................................................................................................... 27 Two options .......................................................................................................................... 28 Option 1 .............................................................................................................................. 28 Option 2 .............................................................................................................................. 29 Response of expert group .................................................................................................. 29 The Commission’s view....................................................................................................... 30 Steps to secure a fair trial ................................................................................................... 32 Accommodations to trial arrangements .............................................................................. 32 Relevance of the nature and circumstances of the trial ...................................................... 33 Fitness to plead guilty ......................................................................................................... 35 Procedures ancillary to the determination of fitness ........................................................ 37 An express requirement to consider fitness ........................................................................ 37 iv NSW Law Reform Commission Table of contents Power to order assessment reports .....................................................................................37 Consent to finding of unfitness ............................................................................................38 Substitute qualified finding of guilt .......................................................................................39 3. The defence of mental illness ..............................................................................................41 The defence of mental illness: the current law...................................................................42 The defence of mental illness: its use in NSW ...................................................................43 A new direction for the defence of mental illness? ............................................................45 Are there problems with the current law? ............................................................................45 Alternatives to M’Naghten ...................................................................................................46 Stakeholders’ views .............................................................................................................49 The Commission’s view .......................................................................................................49 The qualifying mental state: defining mental health and cognitive impairment ..............51 Criticisms of the current definition ........................................................................................51 The proposed definition .......................................................................................................52 Are these definitions appropriate for the defence of mental illness? ....................................53