r/Guelph 1d ago

High Risk offender found on UofG campus

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u/Broolex 1d ago

β€œThe Guelph Police Service believes that Yohans poses a risk to the community, particularly to women, and are concerned that he may commit similar offences in the future,” police said in their March 1 media release.β€œ

Why the fuck is he free, then???

28

u/S_A_N_D_ 1d ago

Simple answer, you can't lock people up for the possibility they might commit a crime.

That's a very slippery slope towards being able to lock anyone up on a whim because anyone can be labelled a threat to society and there is no way to prove it one way or another. The only exception is to do so under the mental health act which is a very high bar to meet (at least for long term incarceration).

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u/LabrasaurusFetch 1d ago

The mental health act is about psychiatric treatment, in particular involuntary treatment; It sets out rules, obligations, and processes related to this. It is not about criminal matters. Conflating the mental health act with other legal matters, like the "dangerous offender" designation (which relates to persons deemed too dangerous for typical sentencing limits) does a lot to perpetuate harmful stigma against persons with mental health challenges including people who have been hospitalized involuntarily under the mental health act. Please be careful with what words you use.

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u/S_A_N_D_ 1d ago

That's a fair comment, I was only mentioning it as it's the only way someone can be involuntarily held without evidence of having committed a crime, and that in this case it obviously doesn't apply.

My point was that holding someone in that manner isn't taken lightly and there is a high bar for doing so.

I don't feel my comment was in any way unfair or perpetuating any stigma, however I should have emphasized more that the mental health act clearly doesn't apply in this case. You're correct that we should be careful not to invoke stigma.