Legal Question in Criminal Law in Canada

Re: Information on the ''Insanity Defense'' in Canada.

The question asked was: My teacher has informed me that she doesn't think there is an insanity defense in Canada as there is in the United States. Could you please direct me to information on Canadian views of the insanity defense?

In Canada, insanity is a well-recognized defence to a criminal charge. The Canadian definition of "legal insanity" is contained in s. 16 of the Canadian Criminal Code which states:

16. (1) No person is criminally responsible for an act committed or an omission made while suffering from a mental disorder that rendered the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or omission or of knowing that it was wrong.

That section has been interpreted to require a level of understanding of the wrongful act which is more than merely knowing what is taking place. That is, it requires more than the simple knowledge of the physical quality of the act. For example, hitting someone with a stick.

Under Canadian law, the definition for insanity requires a capacity to understand or foresee both the nature of the act and its consequences.

The act contemplated by the expression "appreciate the nature and quality of the act" is the physical act involved, e.g., hitting a human being with a stick. Thus, a defendant must have the capacity to appreciate (to foresee and measure the consequences of) her physical act, e.g., that by hitting a human being with a stick she may cause some form of harm to that human being.

In recent years the insanity defence has come under attack in various states of the USA. Montana and Idaho have statutorily eliminated the insanity defence but permit the issue of fitness to stand trial to be raised. In other states, e.g., Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Georgia, the "not guilty by reason of insanity" verdict has been replaced by the "guilty but mentally ill" verdict.