In 2014, Jeff Weber brutally attacked a random man on the street with a hammer he had purchased moments before. The victim of the horrific attack was left partially blind and continues to struggles daily with other physical disabilities as a result. This is not Weber’s first brush with the law, he has been convicted of three very similar crimes in the past. However, each time he appeared in court he was found not criminally responsible (NCR). This time his lawyer plans argued the same thing. In September 2016, after his trial for the hammer attack, Weber was found NCR for the fourth time.
There has been mounting criticism over whether NCR promotes public safety or is a quick pass for prison. Cases like Weber’s were the driving force behind the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act, Bill C-54, which was passed in 2014. Weber’s
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Lawyers could advise their clients not to plead NCR to avoid possibly lengthy and undetermined imprisonments. With a non-NCR plea, the corrections system must assign a fixed time length for a sentence. Unfortunately, such a tactic will swell the population of mentally ill intimates within the corrections system and further strain access to critical mental health resources. And it is probable that offenders who should have pled NCR but wound-up within the general population will be released in a worsened state then before they were sentenced.
In the case of Weber, where he has been considered NCR on three occasions before, it is a clear sign that the mental health system needs reform. However, the answer does not lie with having him committed for an indefinite period of time. On average less one percent of NCR individuals commits another crime after release. Demonstrating the current issue with the mental health system within forensic institutions is not the length of incarceration or quality of