The role of capacity in mental health laws - recent reviews and legislation

Abstract

The context in which the Szmukler et al proposal is put forward is the several reviews in the different jurisdictions in the United Kingdom and in Ireland, which have led to capacity becoming a central feature in relation to civil detention in Scotland and in Ireland, and which may well lead to it becoming a central feature in Northern Ireland, though efforts to achieve the same in England and Wales were rejected. For forensic patients, however, capacity is not prominent, and the proposal made goes further than recent legislative amendments and debates have contemplated. These are set out in the order in which they occurred: the Richardson Committee review of the English statute, then the amendments in Scotland, followed by those in Ireland (which pre-dated those in Scotland but came into effect later); next was the action that was eventually taken in relation to the English statute, and finally there are the proposals as to what to do in Northern Ireland. The latter is the only one that comes close to the proposals of Szmukler and others, which they acknowledge in their paper.