On Wednesday, November 13, CTV News reported that Guy Turcotte, a former cardiologist in Quebec, is back in custody and once again facing murder charges for the death of his two young children in 2009. Turcotte initially faced trial in 2011, but the jury accepted the claim that he had been experiencing blackouts and could not recall the events from that night. Turcotte’s case provoked public outrage and eventually spurred a new federal legislation aimed at making it more difficult for those found not criminally responsible to gain their freedom. After 46 months in prison, Turcotte was freed into a mental institution and eventually released into the public. His discharge from the mental facility has influenced the government’s implementation of the Not Criminally Responsible Act which gives the courts power to hold mentally ill patients longer, without formal review, and makes discharge procedures more difficult.
The Canadian government hopes that, through this act,the public’s lack of confidence in the criminal justice system will be renewed. A recent study, “Changing Attitudes toward the Criminal Justice System: Results of an Experimental Study”, published in The Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice reported that fewer than half of Canadians have faith in the justice system as a whole. However, previous studies have determined that this is due to misconceptions and misunderstanding of legal practices. While legal errors that heavily impacted the verdict were committed in Turcotte’s case, Canadian law officials and the federal government are making an impressive effort to increase public confidence in the justice system through this re-trial and the introduction of this new bill. These improvements will ensure that Turcotte’s sentence following his trial will be more suitable for the crime he committed.
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