SASKATOON -- The first group of people to come through Saskatoon’s Mental Health Strategy Court were arrested less often for petty offences in the year following their participation in the program, according to a University of Saskatchewan study.
“Our assessment found an observable and demonstrable reduction in criminal activity,” said Mansfield Mela, director of the university’s Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science and Justice Studies, in a news release.
“Instead of going through the courts, probation officers, and lawyers, many individuals who came through mental health court got connected with the mental health system — which is where they belong in the first place.”
The report also found these participants, who have cognitive disabilities and mental disorders, were better connected with mental health services, and made fewer trips to the emergency department, according to the release.
Although the evaluation did not look at cost savings from keeping participants out of jail, Mela said the fact that 80 per cent of participants stayed in the community represents significant savings.
“The majority of them would have gone to jail,” said Mela in the release. “That would be days spent in jail multiplied by almost $500 per day. That is a lot of cost to the government, to the taxpayer.”
The mental health court, held the first and third Monday of the month, aims to divert people with mental illness or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder away from the regular criminal court system by co-ordinating treatment for them in the community.
To take part in the alternative program, participants must plead guilty to their charges. They may stay in the program for as long as two years, appearing before the judge and court every month or two to discuss their progress.
The Saskatoon court began in 2013 and there are now mental health courts in Regina and Moose Jaw as well. Saskatchewan also has drug courts and domestic violence courts based on the same philosophy of therapeutic jurisprudence, which looks at how the legal system can be used to help people.
While the 89 participants in the court’s first cohort were arrested less for misdemeanors and other offences after coming through the program, they did face further charges for court-generated, or administration of justice, offences. These charges were for failing to comply with conditions set by the judge, such as notifying the court of a change of address, or associating with people that participants are supposed to avoid.
Glen Luther, a U of S law professor and member of the Forensic Centre’s executive committee, believes the current approach to breaches must be adapted to better reflect the realities faced by clients.
“We should recognize that falling off the wagon is a common thing,” said Luther in the release. “The question should be: How do we react once that’s happened? It’s about being real about crime, trying to understand the real causes of crime, particularly with this population.”
