The problem with trying to do something for victims of mentally ill persons or mentally disordered offenders is that they start being victims long before an actual offence has been committed. If you look at the Crocker study, the vast majority of actual victims, that is the people who suffer physical harm in the sense that we understand a crime to be, are close family members or persons known to the mentally disordered person.
More importantly, I can guarantee, and I speak from experience as a criminal defence lawyer.... As I said before, I don't like doing this, but obviously the personal experience here has some bearing. As a parent, you're a victim in just having to deal with a loved one who is suffering, who acts out, who won't do what you want them to, even though you know it's in their best interest. For any number of reasons, they won't listen. The problem is that there just aren't enough resources in the community.
We're not here to blame the federal government. Health isn't your primary role; we understand that. But there's a shortage of money in the system, both in terms of the forensic system and the civil mental health system, and it just all gets backed up. It's all connected. If there's not enough resources in the civil mental health system—you've already heard this from other people—then the jails become the mental health facility.
You don't need the words on paper that this legislation represents. It is most certainly a laudable objective that you want to prevent crime, that you want to help victims avoid being victims, but this isn't going to do very much to do that. That is why we say you need to focus on the front end, which unfortunately is going to require a financial commitment more than just a legislative commitment.
That's what we would say.