Detention of patients with psychopathic disorder in Scotland: ‘Canons Park’ called into question by House of Lords

Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997: a survey of psychiatrists' views concerning the Scottish 'hybrid order'

“…Until the 1970s the proportion of offenders classi ed as having psychopathic disorder admitted in Scotland was similar to that in England (State Hospital Annual Report, 1984), making it unlikely that the low numbers currently detained in hospital re ect different prevalence rates between Scotland and England (Humphreys, 1999 in uenced this change include the three homicides perpetrated by two personality disordered patients while escaping from the State Hospital (Scottish Home and Health Department, 1977) and growing therapeutic pessimism about treatment. Despite the absence of the term 'psychopathic disorder' in the Scottish legislation the same category exists with the same qualifying criteria as in the Mental Health Act 1983 (Darjee et al, 1999). A recent consultation paper (Scottish Of ce, 1998) highlighted the availability of the interim hospital order and the hospital direction in cases where personality disorder coexisted with mental illness and proposed a working group to consider issues related to personality disordered offenders in Scotland (Scottish Of ce, 1999).…”

The MacLean Committee: Scotland's answer to the ‘dangerous people with severe personality disorder’ proposals?

“…Although the label`psychopathic disorder' does not appear, the same category exists, with virtually identical criteria to those used in England and Wales (Darjee et al, 1999). The difference between Scotland and England has been in practice rather than in law: since the early 1980s offenders with primary personality disorders have not been recommended for psychiatric disposals in Scotland.…”

“…In England and Wales a`third way', involving institutions half-way between secure psychiatric hospitals and prisons, for dangerous people with severe personality disorder (Home Office and Department of Health, 1999;Home Affairs Select Committee, 2000) has been criticised by psychiatrists (Chiswick, 1999;Mullen, 1999;Gunn 2000) and the Health Select Committee (2000).…”

Mental Health (Public Safety and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 1999: detention of untreatable patients with psychopathic disorder

“…The decision of the Lords did not follow the conclusions of an in uential English case (R. v Canons Park Mental Health Review Tribunal ex parte A [1995]; Baker and Crichton, 1995). Instead it ruled that in Scotland a sheriff was obliged to make an order for discharge of a patient suffering from psychopathic disorder if detention in hospital was not likely to alleviate or prevent a deterioration in his condition (Darjee, McCall Smith et al, 1999).…”

“…The absence of an explicit reference to psychopathic disorder led to a mistaken assumption that such patients were not included under Scottish legislation. However, the House of Lords in Reid v Secretary of State for Scotland [1999] clearly interpreted the persistent disorder in s.17(1)(a)(i) as synonymous with the English legal category of psychopathic disorder (Darjee, McCall Smith, Crichton and Chiswick, 1999).…”