Proposals to reform the Mental Health Act (MHA) make ‘arbitrary distinctions between patients who have capacity and those who lack capacity and those who are and are not in the criminal justice system’, the Law Society has warned.
Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said the proposals set ‘a dangerous precedent for different “classes” of people within the same system of mental health services’. Responding to the Department of Health and Social Care consultation, she called for more safeguards to ensure individuals have their autonomy respected and can access justice.
Boyce said: ‘There should be no difference between the right of a person with capacity and a patient who lacks capacity to access justice, nor should anyone detained under the MHA within the criminal justice system be denied access to justice on the same grounds as others detained under the MHA.’
