Shrunk Excerpt #1
Over the next weeks, excerpts from Shrunk: Crime and Disorders of the Mind
will be featured on Lorene Shyba's blog. Order book from http://durvile.com
Excerpt #1. Foreword, by Dr. Lisa Ramshaw
From: Shrunk: Crime and Disorders of the Mind
A few years ago, a Toronto man ran over a police officer with a snowplow, killing him. The day before the jury began to consider its verdict, Rob Ford, the infamous then-Mayor of Toronto, called in to a local radio show to complain about the ‘not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder’ (NCR) defence. Ford talked about how it hurt to see the guy go scot-free and asserted that if you killed someone and acted mentally disturbed chances of freedom were pretty much assured. After the man was found NCR, and was to be sent to a forensic psychiatric hospital instead of to prison, the hockey commentator Don Cherry echoed Ford’s thoughts, posting on Twitter that “it seems if you kill someone and act mentally disturbed then you can be let free.” But people with psychotic disorders do not ‘act’ mentally disturbed; they are mentally disturbed. John Kastner, who produced and directed the documentaries of tragic crimes and forgiveness NCR: Not Criminally Responsible (2013), and Out of Mind Out of Sight (2014), put it well by asking, ‘Do we punish anybody else for an illness? A truck driver has a heart attack and kills ten people. Is he a criminal?’
Lisa Ramshaw MD DPhil FRCPC is the Forensic Psychiatry Subspecialty Program Director and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. She is a staff psychiatrist in the Forensic Service at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and has been a consultant psychiatrist in Nunavut for more than ten years. Her clinical practice includes assessments of criminal responsibility, fitness to stand trial, risk of violence and sexual violence, and assessments and care of individuals under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Review Board. She is also a member of the Ontario Review Board.
will be featured on Lorene Shyba's blog. Order book from http://durvile.comExcerpt #1. Foreword, by Dr. Lisa Ramshaw
From: Shrunk: Crime and Disorders of the Mind
A few years ago, a Toronto man ran over a police officer with a snowplow, killing him. The day before the jury began to consider its verdict, Rob Ford, the infamous then-Mayor of Toronto, called in to a local radio show to complain about the ‘not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder’ (NCR) defence. Ford talked about how it hurt to see the guy go scot-free and asserted that if you killed someone and acted mentally disturbed chances of freedom were pretty much assured. After the man was found NCR, and was to be sent to a forensic psychiatric hospital instead of to prison, the hockey commentator Don Cherry echoed Ford’s thoughts, posting on Twitter that “it seems if you kill someone and act mentally disturbed then you can be let free.” But people with psychotic disorders do not ‘act’ mentally disturbed; they are mentally disturbed. John Kastner, who produced and directed the documentaries of tragic crimes and forgiveness NCR: Not Criminally Responsible (2013), and Out of Mind Out of Sight (2014), put it well by asking, ‘Do we punish anybody else for an illness? A truck driver has a heart attack and kills ten people. Is he a criminal?’
Lisa Ramshaw MD DPhil FRCPC is the Forensic Psychiatry Subspecialty Program Director and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. She is a staff psychiatrist in the Forensic Service at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and has been a consultant psychiatrist in Nunavut for more than ten years. Her clinical practice includes assessments of criminal responsibility, fitness to stand trial, risk of violence and sexual violence, and assessments and care of individuals under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Review Board. She is also a member of the Ontario Review Board.
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Durvile Publications publishes books that demystify the professions for professionals and for the general public. Recent publications include the "True Cases" series books Tough Crimes: True Cases by
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