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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the recent National Appropriate Adult Network (NAAN) report on the role of the appropriate adult.

This paper is based on the NAAN report and a review of relevant policy and research literature.

There to Help 2 highlights that there are still significant gaps in the provision of appropriate adult schemes across England and Wales. These gaps potentially place vulnerable adults at increased risk.

This paper is a review of recent research.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the work of the American feminist political and legal philosopher, Martha Fineman can be the basis for a shift away from the proceduralism and managerialism that has come to dominate social work practice.

This paper’s work is based on the application of Fineman’s work to social welfare settings.

Fineman’s work calls for a radical rethinking of our notions of autonomy and vulnerability.

This paper applies Fineman’s work to this field.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight concerns about recent CPS guidance on the prosecution of rape and sexual assault cases.

The paper places the CPS guidance in the wider policy context of concerns about sexual violence on mental health wards.

The paper concludes that the reported CPS guidance appears to run counter to other policy directives particularly the recent report from the CQC.

The paper is a first response to these issues.

This paper aims to examine reform of mental health legislation in England and Wales. It covers the period from the introduction of the 1983 MHA to the proposed reforms outlined in the Wessley Review that was published in December 2018.

This is a literature-based project.

Reform of the mental health legislation reflects two potentially conflicting strands. One is the state’s power to incarcerate the “mad”, and the other is the move to protect the civil rights of those who are subject to such legislation. The failures to development adequately funded community-based mental health services and a series of inquiries in the 1990s led to the introduction of Community Treatment Orders in the 2007 reform of the MHA.

The development of mental health policy has seen a shift towards more coercive approaches in mental health.

The successful reform of the MHA can only be accomplished alongside investment in community mental health services.

The paper highlights the tensions between the factors that contribute to mental health legislation reform.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a scoping study that explored the extent of recorded sexual violence perpetrated on inpatients on mental health (MH) units.

A Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request was sent to 45 police forces. The FOI asked for the number of recorded offences of rape and sexual assault by penetration for the five years 2010-2015. Following the responses from the police, a similar FOI request was sent to MH trusts.

There were significant variations in the way that both police forces and MH trusts approached the recording of this information.

The research highlights variation and inadequacy of current recording practices in relation to sexual offences committed against inpatients on MH units.

There needs to be more consistent systems of recording of allegations of sexual assault and responses to them by agencies. In the trust recording of these incidents, it is recommended that a specific category of sexual violence is created. On a national level, the Office for National Statistics should produce a national data set that records the number of rapes that are committed in MH inpatient units.

This paper highlights the “gap” of information in relation to recorded rape and may indicate that complainants with a history of mental illness are less likely to have their allegation recorded as a crime.

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

The custody environment is not designed nor can it hope to meet the needs of individuals who are experiencing acute mental distress. The article reports the findings of analysis of the recorded incidents of self‐harm that occurred in the custody of one English police force during an eight‐month period in 2006. There were 168 such incidents in this period. The ratio of male/female detained persons, who harmed themselves was 3:1. The most common method used was a ligature either from the detained person's own clothes or the paper suits that are used in custody. Alcohol or substance misuse was identified as a clear risk factor. The police response is analysed and recommendations made for improved access to health care for those in custody.

The failings of “community care” in the late 1980s and early 1990s led to a number of inquiries. The purpose of this paper is to examine one of these key issues that is rarely if ever at the forefront of the inquiry process – the experiences of young black men of African-Caribbean origin within mental health services and the Criminal Justice System (CJS).

It sets out to do this by exploring the way in which two inquiries, both from the early 1990s, approached the issues of race, racism and psychiatry. The two inquiries are the Ritchie Inquiry (1994) into the Care and Treatment of Christopher Clunis and Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the death of Orville Blackwood and a Review of the Deaths of Two Other African-Caribbean Patients (Prins, 1994). The Ritchie Inquiry was established following the murder of Jonathan Zito by Christopher Clunis. The Prins Inquiry examined the circumstances of the death of Orville Blackwood at Broadmoor Special Hospital.

These two inquiries are used as contrasting case studies as a means of examining the approaches to the questions of race and racism. However, the attitudes and approaches that the inquiries took to the issue of race are startlingly different. The Prins Inquiry takes a very clear position that racism was a feature of service provision whilst the Ritchie Inquiry is much more equivocal.

These issues remain relevant for current practice across mental health and CJS systems where young black men are still over-represented. The deaths of black men in mental health and CJS systems continue to scar these institutions and family continue to struggle for answers and justice.

The purpose of the paper is to report the findings of a small scale indicative research project. The project explores the assessment of detained persons in police custody by Forensic Physicians (FP).

A range of information was collected in every case where custody staff had identified a mental health concern and requested an FP assessment. As well as information about demographic factors, this would include questions regarding any links that the individuals had with community‐based mental health services. As well as this information, anonymous custody records and force adverse incident records for the month were examined.

In the month of the project, 59 FP assessments were requested. Only six members of this group had any contact with community‐based mental health services: two with a social worker, two with a CPN and two with a psychiatrist. Of this group, three had not been in contact with mental health services for over a month.

The size of the cohort and variety of arrangements for providing nursing and social care support in custody settings may limit the generalisation of the findings.

This study highlights that there is a group of individuals whose mental health causes concern to the police in a custody environment. In this study, the overwhelming majority of the group have no contact with mental health services. The research supports the recommendations of the Bradley Review for wider health care provision in custody settings.

The paper highlights that fully effective community mental health services need to consider police custody settings as a key point for intervention.

In his recent report, Lord Adebowale (2013) described mental health issues as “core police business”. The recent retrenchment in mental health and wider public services mean that the demands on the police in this area are likely to increase. Mental health triage is a concept that has been adapted from general and mental health nursing for use in a policing context. The overall aim of triage is to ensure more effective health outcomes and the more effective use of resources. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current policy and practice in this area. It then goes on to explore the models of mental health triage that have been developed to try and improve working between mental health services and the police.

The paper outlines the main themes in the research literature regarding mental illness and policing, including a brief overview of section 136 MHA. It then examines recently developed models of triage as applied in these settings.

The models of triage that have been examined here have developed in response to local organisational, demographic and other factors. The approaches have two key features – the improved training for officers and improved liaison with mental health services.

Wider mental health training for officers and improved liaison with community-based services are the key to improving police contacts.

The current pressure on mental health services has increased the role that the police have in responding to these sorts of emergencies. This situation is unlikely to change in the short term.

This paper contributes to the wider debate about policing and mental illness. It highlights the fact that section 136 MHA use has tended to dominate debates in this area to the detriment of a broader discussion of the police role.