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This paper discusses the first evaluation to be undertaken of a volunteer Appropriate Adult scheme for mentally vulnerable adults. Southampton MIND was granted funding by the Mental Health Foundation to implement a volunteer Appropriate Adult scheme which began in April 1994 and lasted for two years. The Mental Health Foundation required an evaluation from an independent organization, the implications of which are examined here against the background of previous research conducted by the authors on the use of Appropriate Adult protection for mentally vulnerable adults in the police station. We show that a basic Appropriate Adult training programme has been devised and that there are people willing to take on this training and the onerous role for which it prepares them.

The links between drug taking and crime are examined in terms of three main questions: to what extent does drug use lead to crime, to what extent does crime lead to drug use, and to what extent does crime and drug use emerge from a common set of circumstances? The results give Hale to support the first two propositions but much to support the third if it is defined in terms of the drug users position on and contact with the illicit supply system. Data is presented to show that the drug users relationship to that illicit supply system account for much current crime.

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There has been an uneven pattern of development of drug treatment courts throughout Britain. The Republic of Ireland has a drug treatment court and Scotland will have one by the end of 2001, but there are no drug treatment courts in England and Wales, or Northern Ireland, although in the latter there is a growing interest. It is suggested the Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO) in England and Wales has acted as an impediment as this is a very weak version of drug treatment court and was proposed by the Prime Minister when Shadow Home Secretary. Drug treatment courts in Eire and Scotland have adapted their program to fit local conditions, although neither have opted for a fully fledged drug user treatment court on the Miami model.