Crimes Mental Impairment consultation paper.pdf - Victorian Law ...

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subject to a non-custodial supervision order in the community who is supervised by
Forensicare’s Community Forensic Mental Health Service, managed by an approved
mental health service and receiving treatment from a private psychiatrist or other
medical practitioner.
8.114 While it is implicit that someone should be monitoring the person subject to the
non-custodial supervision order at any given time, it is not always clear who is responsible
for some of the requirements imposed by the legislation. Clarity around this is integral to
ensure that a person subject to a supervision order does not become ‘lost in the system’.
8.115 The Victorian Parliament Law Reform Committee in its Inquiry into Access to and
Interaction with the Justice System by People with an Intellectual Disability and their
Families and Carers recommended that the CMIA clarify departmental responsibility
for supervision and monitoring custodial supervision orders and non-custodial
supervision orders. 117
Questions
79 Is there sufficient clarity in the arrangements for monitoring people subject to
non-custodial supervision orders
80 If no, what changes should be made to ensure that people on non-custodial
supervision orders are adequately monitored
Breaches of supervision orders
8.116 A person subject to a supervision order can breach it by:
• failing to comply with a non-custodial supervision order, or
• being absent without leave while on a custodial supervision order.
8.117 The following section will discuss the CMIA provisions on each of these breaches.
Emergency powers of apprehension
8.118 Where a person subject to a non-custodial supervision order becomes a serious risk to
themselves or others, the CMIA provides that the person can be apprehended using an
emergency power of apprehension. 118 The person must:
• have failed to comply with the non-custodial supervision order, and
• be a serious danger to their own safety or public safety. 119
8.119 People responsible for the supervision of the person subject to the supervision order
(supervisors) use the emergency power when they need to apprehend the person subject
to a supervision order as a matter of urgency and it would be inappropriate to wait for
a court decision. 120 Members of the police force, ambulance officers and other mental
health service providers may also use the emergency power of apprehension. 121
117 Law Reform Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Inquiry into Access to and Interaction with the Justice System by People with an Intellectual
Disability and their Families and Carers (2013) 309.
118 Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 (Vic) s 30.
119 Ibid s 30(1).
120 Department of Human Services, above n 39, 28.
121 Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 (Vic) s 30(6).
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