The Review Board Systems in Canada: An Overview of Results from the Mentally Disordered Accused Data Collection Study
3. Results (cont’d)
Due to the high number of cases in Quebec with no information on criminal history, it was necessary to remove Quebec cases from any analysis that involved criminal history. Among the total number of cases with information on prior record (N=4,902), more than half of the NCRMD/UST accused (57.2%) had a prior criminal conviction. The number of prior convictions ranged appreciably from 1 to 60, with a median of 4.
Table 6 indicates that a small percentage of NCRMD/UST cases had more than 10 prior convictions and that approximately one-third had at least one prior violent and/or sexual conviction. In general, current NCRMD cases were more likely to have a prior UST finding compared to current UST cases - 12% of NCRMD cases had a prior UST finding while only 2% of current UST cases had a prior UST finding. This suggests that some UST accused who are returned to court and found fit might then be found NCRMD.
Table 6 – Legal Status (NCRMD/UST) by Prior Involvement
Number of Prior Convictions
| Prior Involvement |
NCRMD N (column %) |
UST N (column %) |
TOTAL N (column %) |
| No prior convictions |
1,451 (42.4%) |
647 (43.8%) |
2,098 (42.8%) |
| One prior conviction |
406 (11.8%) |
169 (11.4%) |
574 (11.7%) |
| Two to five prior convictions |
825 (24.1%) |
231 (15.6%) |
1,055 (21.5%) |
| Six to ten prior convictions |
554 (16.2%) |
327 (22.2%) |
882 (18.0%) |
| More than ten prior convictions |
189 (5.5%) |
104 (7.0%) |
293 (6.0%) |
Type of Prior Convictions
| Prior Involvement |
NCRMD N (column %) |
UST N (column %) |
TOTAL N (column %) |
| No prior convictions |
1,451 (42.4%) |
647 (43.8%) |
2,098 (42.8%) |
| Prior violent/sexual conviction |
1,151 (33.6%) |
561 (38.0%) |
1,713 (34.9%) |
| Prior non-violent conviction |
822 (24.0%) |
269 (18.2%) |
1,092 (22.3%) |
Prior NCRMD Findings
| Prior Involvement |
NCRMD N (column %) |
UST N (column %) |
TOTAL N (column %) |
| No prior NCRMD |
6,141 (90.3%) |
1,661 (88.5%) |
7,802 89.9%) |
| One prior NCRMD |
573 (8.4%) |
193 (10.3%) |
766 (8.8%) |
| More than one prior NCRMD |
89 (1.3%) |
22 (1.2%) |
111 (1.3%) |
Prior UST Findings
| Prior Involvement |
NCRMD N (column %) |
UST N (column %) |
TOTAL N (column %) |
| No prior UST |
5,988 (88.0%) |
1,840 (98.0%) |
7,828 (90.2%) |
| One prior UST |
666 (9.8%) |
26 (1.4%) |
692 (7.9%) |
| More than one prior UST |
148 (2.2%) |
11 (0.6%) |
159 (1.8%) |
- Percentages may not always total 100% due to rounding error.
- Totals may not be exact due to the rounding of the weighted data.
As seen in Table 7, the number of prior convictions varied according demographic information, although the pattern is similar to general offenders. Adults were much more likely than youth to have a prior record, males were more likely than females, and Aboriginal accused were more likely than non-Aboriginal accused.
Table 7 - Criminal History By Demographic Information
Gender
| Demographic Information |
N (%) |
Mean |
| Male |
4,137 (84.4%) |
5.2 convictions |
| Female |
765 (15.6%) |
1.8 convictions |
Age
| Demographic Information |
N (%) |
Mean |
| Youth (less than 18 years) |
114 ( 2.3%) |
1.3 convictions |
| Adults (18 years and over) |
4,758 (97.7%) |
4.7 convictions |
Aboriginal
| Demographic Information |
N (%) |
Mean |
| Aboriginal |
333 ( 6.8%) |
7.8 convictions |
| Non-Aboriginal |
4,569 (93.2%) |
4.4 convictions |
- Percentages may not always total 100% due to rounding error.
- There were 30 cases that did not contain information necessary to calculate age.
Dual–status offenders are those who are under the purview of a Review Board for an NCRMD or UST designation and are concurrently serving a sentence for a criminal conviction. Of the 8,679 accused, 11.6% were classified as dual-status offenders – there was no difference in the percentage of NCRMD cases versus UST cases.
