Nigel Gladstone reports for the Sydney Morning Herald.
While there were 800 fewer Children’s Court cases in 2021 than in 2017, the court dismissed almost 200 more cases due to mental health reasons.
The shift is due, in part, to a law change in March last year that widened the legal definition of what may be considered mental illness or cognitive impairment. Extra mental health nurses working in the court system and some unexpected consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have helped too.
NSW Justice Health reports it cares for more than 30,000 patients annually in correctional centres, youth justice centres, courts, police cells, inpatient settings, and in the community.
Redfern Legal Centre police accountability solicitor Samantha Lee said the pandemic led more people to contact support services, giving them solid evidence of illness to challenge court charges and an avenue of appeal under mental health grounds that they would not otherwise have had.
“I think issues of mental health stress have been raised by my clientele more than previously and the court seems more open or sympathetic to that application,” Lee said.
Mental health pleas have been used successfully for minor property offences and drug offences, and even a scooter fine, but not so much for violent acts, she said.
Read the full article here. (Sydney Morning Herald, 26 June 2022)
