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The Queensland Criminal Justice Centre: Encouraging the use of therapeutic forums to enhance access to justice for mentally ill defendants

Queensland’s Mental Health Court was established in 2002. When a person is charged with an indictable criminal offence, this specialist Court may be required to decide whether a person is of unsound mind, or fit for trial, either permanently or temporarily. However, where a person is charged with a summary offence only, there is no such recourse to the Mental Health Court and the issues of unsoundness of mind and/or fitness for trial must be canvassed in the Magistrates Court.

Empirical evidence suggests that given the velocity of Magistrates Courts, lawyers are ill equipped to identify when an issue of disability or mental illness should be investigated. This can result in Courts imposing inappropriate penalties and sentences for persons who should have had their disability considered either as a defence, or as a relevant factor in the sentencing process. This presentation argues that there exists an urgent need to instigate disability training, support and advocacy services to all professionals working within the criminal justice system, particularly with respect to mental illness. It reflects on the potential directions for reform of mental health law, arguing that Magistrates Courts require restructuring to enable them to enhance access to justice for disabled and mentally ill defendants. It also argues that the web based ‘Queensland Criminal Justice Centre’ and Brisbane’s experimental ‘Special Circumstances Court’ represents a significant step in the right direction towards a more therapeutically effective jurisprudential forum in this context. 

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