Behaviour Alteration, the Law Reform Commission and the Courts: An Ethical Perspective

The Law Reform Commission of Canada, in its Working Paper 43 Behaviour Alteration and the Criminal Law, addresses the issue of the deliberate modification of human behaviour by medical means. It does so vis-A-vis non-consensual treatment prescribed in the purely therapeutic setting as well as with respect to such treatment imposed by way of sentencing. The Commission focuses its deliberations around three questions: 1. Do present laws provide sufficient protection against involuntary or non-consensual administration of behaviour alteration treatment? 2. Should psychological integrity be protected by the Criminal Code as physical integrity already is? 3. Should the law legitimate the use of these techniques for purposes of criminal sanction as a matter of social control?