Book Review: Good Practice with Vulnerable Adults
| Author | Caroline Bald |
| Published date | 01 June 2002 |
| Date | 01 June 2002 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/026455050204900225 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
178
review it is not possible to provide
extended commentary on all aspects of
this thoughtful collection of contributions.
I have singled out one or two for comment
on the basis of imagining which might be
of most interest to probation readers.
However, I must emphasise that this is in
no way intended to diminish the value of
other contributions. From the perspective
of a very experienced and thoughtful
forensic psychiatrist, David Tidmarsh
provides a stimulating clinical and
contextual perspective on risk-taking.
Tighe, Henderson and Thornicroft
achieve a great deal in their thoughtful
account of models of community care
provision. The problems of team work
are helpfully addressed by Holloway and
the more specific problems involved in
the relationship between generic and
forensic psychiatric services are addressed
in similar fashion by Buchanan. A very
full presentation of psycho-therapeutic
interventions with mentally disordered
offenders is provided by Norton and
Vince; probation staff will find this
contribution of considerable value.
Finally, Fennell and Yeates offer a
splendidly succinct yet highly informative
account of the development and current
context of criminal justice policy,
community care and mentally disordered
offenders. If he will forgive the
obstetrical analogy, Dr. Buchanan has
acted as a highly competent ‘midwife’ to
the birth of an invaluable contribution to
the forensic psychiatric and criminal
justice literature. National Probation
Service libraries should certainly
purchase a copy and those members of
the service with day-to-day involvement
with mentally disordered offenders could
usefully consider obtaining their own
copy, though, sadly, the price may deter
them. I very much hope it won’t.
Professor Herschel Prins
Universities of Loughborough
and Leicester
Good Practice with Vulnerable
Adults
Edited by Jacki Pritchard
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2001;
pp318; £16.95, pbk
ISBN 1-85302-982-3
Vulnerability is an issue which has been
minimised so that offenders are deemed
responsible and thus accountable for their
behaviour. However, in the hostel
environment in which I work,
‘vulnerability’ is a key issue and often
becomes ‘process jargon’ as a means of
securing resources, such as
accommodation or indeed recall. It was
therefore from this position that I gladly
accepted the invitation to review ‘Good
Practice with Vulnerable Adults’.
Unfortunately, I was then disappointed to
find that at no point in a book of 14
chapters about vulnerability in systems
and institutions, is the work of the
Probation Service discussed. In working
with men who – yes have offended – a
significant proportion have experienced
abuse or vulnerability first hand; as a
child, in prison or through physical or
mental ill health. I acknowledge the
victimology research as well as the
criminological insight into work with
offenders, but I hoped for some
consolidation of these two distinct and
yet often convergent themes.
To continue reading
Request your trial