RESOURCES

Legislation

Guardianship Act 1987
Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990
Guardianship Regulation 2005
Mental Health Act 2007
Mental Health Regulation 2007
Powers of Attorney Act 2003
Protected Estates Act 1983
Protected Estates Regulation 2003
Anti-discrimination Act 1997 (NSW)
Anti-discrimination Act 1992 (CWLTH)

Principles for the protections of persons with mental illness and for the improvement of the
mental health care. UN Resolution No. 46/119, 1991

UN Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as amended
by Protocols No. 11 and 14

Tools Kits and Manuals
Leading decisions
Recent conference papers & journal articles
Mental Health Peak Bodies & Useful information for clients

Tool Kits and Manuals

Capacity Toolkit
The Mental Health Advocates' Practice Kit
The Practice and Procedure Manual for Mental Health Advocacy (civil and forensic work)
The Step by Step Guide to Making Section 32 Applications
Workers with mental illness: a practical guide for managers

Leading decisions

The McNaughton's Rule states:
To establish a defence on the ground of insanity it must be clearly proved that at the time of committing the act, the accused was labouring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing or, if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing what was wrong.

R v Presser [1958] VR 45 sets out the classic formulation of the fitness determination.

R v Dennison (NSWCCA, 3 March 1988, 319 of 1987) states the fitness determination in a simpler way: The question of unfitness turns upon an evaluation of the capacity of the prisoner concerned at the time of the trial to: understand the proceedings, to be able to communicate instructions, to be able to formulate his plea to the charge against him, and to follow to a sufficient extent what is actually taking place in the trial.

Muldrock v The Queen [2011] High Court of Australia on appeal it was found that R v Way was wrongly decided. The decision set out the proper sentencing process and directed the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal to re-sentence Mr Muldrock.

Recent conference papers & journal articles

Chappell, Duncan. Protecting the human rights of the mentally ill: contemporary challenges for the strain criminal Justice system [revised version of a paper presented at the International Congress on law and mental health (2003 Sydney)] Psychiatry, psychology and law, v.11, no.1, 2004: 13 - 22

Diverting mentally disordered offenders in the NSW local court: a study of magistrates' attitudes to the diversionary processed available in the local court and a discussion on the use of s32 Judicial Commission of New South Wales 2006

Access to justice and legal needs: on the edge of Justice, the legal needs of people with a mental illness in NSW Law and Justice Foundation of NSW 2006

Criminal Culpability and Self-Control: Back to M’Naughton Azgad Gold Division of Law, Ethics, and Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

Mental disorder prevalence at the gateway to the criminal justice system by Lubica Forsythe and Antonette Gaffney in "Trends and issues in criminal justice" Institute of Criminology Canberra.

Therapeutic jurisprudence initiatives in Australia and New Zealand and the overseas experience by Dr Michael S King

Mental health peak bodies and useful information for clients

Alzheimer's Australia

Legal Planning and Dementia

Mental Health Association NSW, including Fact Sheets

Mental Health Services Australia

Australia & New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and the Law

International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services

The Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia formerly the Schizophrenia Fellowships

Council of Australia

Mental Health Coordinating Council

Mental Health Council of Australia

Multicultural Mental Health Australia (MMHA)

Way ahead ~ Directory of mental health services in NSW

Useful information for clients

What is Section 32? A fact sheet for people with an intellectual disability, acquired brain injury or mental illness

The NSW Mental Health Rights Manual

Mental Health Advocacy Service

Other useful websites and information

The difference between a psychiatric evaluation, psychological assessment & psychosocial report, by Danielle Castles. Manager Client Assessment and Referrals, Legal Aid NSW, October 2007

Mental Health and Crime Australian Institute of Criminology links to several publications

State Library of NSW Reference List Predefined search for "Mental Health"

Mental Health Resources for Professionals and General Practitioners (government site)