3.0 - What is the Role of a Legal Practitioner in criminal law matters?

The legal profession and other Court personel play a crucial role within the criminal justice system particulary for people with a mental illness,acquired brain injury (ABI) and or intellectual disability.

One of the lawyer's roles in the effective representation of a disabled defendant is to ensure that the defendant's disability is properly assessed and fitness for trial and unsoundness of mind issues are properly examined.  

In the event that these issues are not examined, the defendant can be exposed to significant injustice.  The role of the lawyer in excavating these issues is not too onerous given that in the far majority of cases there will be a medical history confirming the person's disability and possibly it's impact upon the person's behavior.  The Disability Advocate and/or Health Professional can significantly assist the lawyer in this exploratory process by bringing to the attention of the lawyer, relevant medical documents.  Of course, it is not always the case that the person themselves will be in a position to accurately disclose their condition or where information pertaining to their condition can be found.  Thus, it is fundamentally important for both the lawyer, disability advocate and/or health professional to consult with the person's wider support framework, including the most obvious, friends and family.  In the absence of such a framework, the person's general practitioner is a good place to start, as too are hospital medical records obtained via the Freedom of Information Act.  Whilst the latter approach can be lengthy, it is worth accentuating the urgency of the matter to the relevant hospital department.  This may result in a waiver of the usual period.

Upon receipt of information that supports a relevant disability, in particular, information that attests to the impact of the disability on the person's behaviour, preferably the behaviour that is now before the court, further psychiatric evidence will more than likely be required.  The psychiatric report will need to deal specifically with a number of matters, but essentially those which relate to unfitness for trial and unsoundness of mind.

Accordingly, in most cases funding for such report will need to be sought via Legal Aid Queensland.

Link to Pro-forma Psychiatric Report request