The disposition of not criminally responsible accused persons in British Columbia: the impact of the Winko case on the decision-making process of the British Columbia Review Board

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the effects of the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling in the Winko (1999) case on the decision-making process of the British Columbia Review Board when it is charged with deciding whether or not to grant an absolute discharge to a not-criminally-responsible accused person. Results from the content analysis of 36 written B.C. Review Board decisions and 12 face-to-face interviews indicated that certain risk factors were mentioned more frequently post-Winko, such as medication compliance, insight into his/her mental illness, and community support. Although the Review Board’s intent is to make decisions that are therapeutic in nature, if an accused person receives an absolute discharge, the Board is no longer able to maintain ongoing supervision because it loses its jurisdiction over him/her. Thus, an accused may ‘fall between the cracks’ and not receive the required services within the mental health system.