Musings and Snippets from a recently retired JP. I served for 31 years, mostly in west London. I was Chairman of my Bench for some years, and a member of the National Bench Chairmen's Forum All cases are based on real ones, but anonymised and composited. All opinions are those of one or more individuals. JPs swear to enforce the law of the land, whether or not they approve of it. Nothing on here constitutes legal advice.
Thanks for highlighting this excellent document by the Prison Reform Trust - a very long-overdue explanation of the difference between mental health and learning disability aimed at sentencers. As a CDO it always dismayed me how widespread confusion and ignorance was on the subject and especially the differences between a psychiatrist, psychologist and CPN. In my experience people with a learning disability get a raw deal from the CJ system and I would urge the requesting of a psychology report in such cases prior to sentencing.
It sounds as if it is not only sentencing, but also that some of the convictions can be unsound when these sorts of people are unable to represent themselves properly.
Posts are pre-moderated. Please bear with us if this takes a little time, but the number of bores and obsessives was getting out of hand, as were the fake comments advertising rubbish.
Thanks for highlighting this excellent document by the Prison Reform Trust - a very long-overdue explanation of the difference between mental health and learning disability aimed at sentencers. As a CDO it always dismayed me how widespread confusion and ignorance was on the subject and especially the differences between a psychiatrist, psychologist and CPN. In my experience people with a learning disability get a raw deal from the CJ system and I would urge the requesting of a psychology report in such cases prior to sentencing.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as if it is not only sentencing, but also that some of the convictions can be unsound when these sorts of people are unable to represent themselves properly.
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