Protecting the rights of the mentally disordered in police stations: The use of the appropriate adult in England and Wales

Screening for psychiatric morbidity in police custody: results from the HELP-PC project

“…24 It is unclear how much this influences sergeants' decisions not to call for an appropriate adult where a mentally vulnerable detainee is identified. The absence of a specific definition for mental vulnerability under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act serves to compound this issue.…”

Dilemmas in applying strengths-based approaches in working with offenders with mental illness: A critical multidisciplinary review

“…This implied that, even under the existing human rights standards, authorities could be satisfied when the defendant with mental illness was represented by a lawyer during criminal proceedings (Salize, Dressing and Kief, 2007;Salize and Dressing, 2005). From the point of view that this population might need additional procedural safeguards in order to understand and follow legal proceedings (Nemitz & Bean, 2001), arguments are made that the mere assistance of a legal representative is insufficient to guarantee the rights of persons with mental illness. Similarly, case 7 law of the European Court for Human Rights' (ECtHR) now states that defendants with mental illness have a right to participate in criminal proceedings from the earliest stage of police interrogation (Verbeke et al 2015).…”

Protecting the fair trial rights of mentally disordered defendants in criminal proceedings: Exploring the need for further EU action

“…Some of these individuals are likely to have difficulties in understanding and veraciously responding to questions, since they may have difficulties in recalling and processing information. They are also more likely to make damaging assertions, including false confessions, since they may be acquiescent and suggestible and, under pressure, may try to appease other people or incriminate themselves (Nemitz & Bean, 2001). The court has held, however, that the right to a fair trial in criminal cases includes the right for anyone charged with a criminal offence to remain silent and not to contribute to incriminating himself.…”

“…Because of the very low threshold above which the police custody officer in England and Wales should call for an AA, it has been argued that a possible 25% of all suspects at police stations should receive this extra attention (Nemitz & Bean, 2001). This conclusion is, however, somewhat contrary to what happens in practice, since these provisions are used quite infrequently (Nemitz & Bean, 2001).…”

“…Because of the very low threshold above which the police custody officer in England and Wales should call for an AA, it has been argued that a possible 25% of all suspects at police stations should receive this extra attention (Nemitz & Bean, 2001). This conclusion is, however, somewhat contrary to what happens in practice, since these provisions are used quite infrequently (Nemitz & Bean, 2001). This conclusion is backed up by the National Appropriate Adult Network report of 2010, which states that "there appears to be a clear disparity between the number of adults identified as vulnerable in police custody and morbidity levels of mental disorder in prisons and offenders with either learning difficulties or disabilities", which suggests "that mental vulnerability is massively under-identified in police custody" (National Appropriate Adult Network, 2010, p. 12).…”