Legal professionals and witness statements from people with a suspected mental health diagnosis

Reavey, P., Wilcock, R., Brown, S.D. ORCID: 0000-0001-7841-3225, Batty, R. and Fuller, S., 2016. Legal professionals and witness statements from people with a suspected mental health diagnosis. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 46, pp. 94-102. ISSN 0160-2527

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Abstract

Individuals with mental health problems are considered to be part of a group labeled ‘vulnerable’ in forensic psychology literature and the legal system more generally. In producing witness statements, there are numerous guidelines in the UK, designed to facilitate the production of reliable and valid accounts by those deemed to be vulnerable witnesses. And yet, it is not entirely clear how mental health impacts on reliability and validity within the judicial system, partly due to the diversity of those who present with mental health difficulties. In this paper, we set out to explore how legal professionals operating in the UK understand the impact of mental distress on the practical production of witness testimonies. Twenty legal professionals, including police officers, judges, magistrates and detectives were involved in a semi-structured interview to examine their knowledge and experience of working with mental health problems, and how they approached and worked with this group.

A thematic analysis was conducted on the data and specific themes relevant to the overall research question are presented. These include a) dilemmas and deficiencies in knowledge of mental health, b) the abandonment of diagnosis and c) barriers to knowledge: time restrictions, silence, professional identity and fear. Finally, we explore some of the implications of these barriers, with regard to professional practice.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
Creators: Reavey, P., Wilcock, R., Brown, S.D., Batty, R. and Fuller, S.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: May 2016
Volume: 46
ISSN: 0160-2527
Identifiers:
NumberType
10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.02.040DOI
S016025271630053XPublisher Item Identifier
1269655Other
Divisions: Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by: Jill Tomkinson
Date Added: 15 Jan 2020 11:55
Last Modified: 15 Jan 2020 11:55
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/38977

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