Mental Health Defences and the Mental Health Court
Queensland, like many other jurisdictions, has mechanisms in place to appropriately deal with the connection between mental health and criminal offending. This can involve diverting individuals with mental health issues or intellectual disabilities away from traditional criminal courts and into mental health treatment and support programs. The Mental Health Court in Queensland has three key tasks: Determining: whether a person charged with a criminal offence was of unsound mind when they allegedly committed the offence; and/or whether the person is fit for trial; Hearing appeals from the Mental Health Review Tribunal; and Conducting inquiries into whether a person’s detention in a mental...
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