Letter to the Editor
The Globe and Mail
March 14, 2007
The Wrong Plan
I was alarmed to read the Ontario’s Attorney-General’s comments that contentious civil commitment measures being used in the U.S. should be considered in Canada (Should Canada hold sex offenders indefinitely? March 8, 2007). It is safe to say that the U.S. experience has been largely unsuccessful to date, primarily due to the fact that there are no known effective treatments for sex offenders. Psychiatry is not an exact science and violence risk assessments are far from accurate. Thus, the legality of civil-commitment measures is dubious, in addition to the fact that offenders are effectively being prosecuted twice for the same offence.
Holding someone indefinitely in a mental health setting simply to “keep them off the street” without a plan for treatment to support their recovery is unfair, unjust and an unwise use of resources. If treatment is required, then it should occur during the period of incarceration. Any movement to adopt the American plan would drain resources from an already overburdened and underfunded mental health-care system.
We should be in no hurry to adopt a flawed American system into a Canadian reality.
Yours truly,
David Simpson
Acting Director
Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office
Toronto
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