Book Review: A Companion Guide to Mentally Disordered Offenders
| Published date | 01 March 2004 |
| Pages | 42-44 |
| Date | 01 March 2004 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200400011 |
| Author | William Bingley |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Book review
A Companion Guide to Mentally Disordered
Offenders
Nigel Stone
Crayford: Shaw and Sons, 2003
ISBN 0 7219 1621 X
n its report published in 1999, the
Expert Committee appointed to review the Mental
Health Act 1983 declared that the ‘existing legislative
landscape’ in relation to mentally disordered offenders
was ‘highly complex and in need of rationalisation’
(Department of Health & Welsh Office, 1999). Their
plea has fallen on stony ground but, among other
things and providing you agree with their contention,
it illustrates the challenge faced by anyone writing on
the subject.
It is no doubt possible to pose a number of
questions when reviewing a book like this but the
ones that come into the mind of this reviewer include:
■Does the author go beyond the relatively dry
bones of the law and give some helpful hints
about its application to real life?
■Is the book set out in a coherent fashion so that,
in particular, the busy practitioner can find their
way to the bit that is obviously relevant to them
and are there clues from there to the less
obviously relevant?
■Does the book pay due acknowledgement to, in
the author’s own words, the notoriously complex
interplay of ‘health, social, legal and ethical
demands’ that make this topic so fascinating?
On all three counts Nigel Stone succeeds.
Set out to follow the career of a person with mental
health problems who comes into contact with the
criminal justice system, it starts with police
investigation and discretion and culminates with a
clear and concise summary of the Care Programme
Approach by way of matters such as the so-called
insanity defences, psychiatric supervision orders and
custodial sentencing. It is easy to find your way around
and the relevant law (both statute and case law) is
Ibuttressed by reference to the policy context, relevant
research and the author’s own critique of how it all
works. In places illustrative case studies are provided
and these will be especially helpful for the novice
embarking in the field for the first time: indeed more
of these might be worth contemplating for a future
edition. There could possibly have been more
reference to the impact and implications of the
Human Rights Act, although the principal cases are
there. For example, the developing jurisdiction around
Article 2 of the European Convention on Human
Rights – the right to life and its implications for deaths
in custody – has a special resonance for mentally
disordered offenders.
All contemporary writers on mental health law face
one particular challenge: what to do about the
eternally imminent mental health Bill. In light of the
Queen’s Speech, Nigel Stone is probably wise to
confine himself to outlining briefly some relevant
aspects of the Bill and avoiding most of the debate,
although something about the discussions around
dangerousness might have been helpful.
In his introduction the author rather modestly
hopes that he has produced a ‘serviceable route map’
through this complex and crucially important subject.
He has certainly done that and more.
William Bingley
Professor of Mental Health Law and Ethics,
University of Central Lancashire
Non-Executive Director,
Morecambe Bay Primary Care Trust
Reference
Department of Health and Welsh Office, Expert
Committee (1999) Review of the Mental Health Act 1983.
London: Department of Health.
42 The Mental Health Review Volume 9 Issue 1 March 2004 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2004
J/205/01/04MHR9.1Marchinsides 3/3/04 10:33 am Page 42
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