Unfitness to Plead Consultation Responses - Law Commission ...

This training does not necessarily cover the idiosyncrasies of childhood
systems necessary to determine and declare a person as learning
disabled. One could argue that it is the learning disabled who are most
likely to struggle in terms of ‘fitness.’
Hence, medics are not trained to understand ‘Statementing,’
(Education Act, 1996) or how those with behavioural problems at
schools invariably have learning disabilities as well.
Nor are they trained in how the ‘statementing process’ has altered, so
that fewer children are being Statemented, not because there are
fewer children needing the statement, but because the money is
being delegated into schools and so schools are not asking for the
statementing process, because a ‘statement’ would have the effect of
enabling the local authority to tell the school how to spend their
Special Needs money!
Hence, even if a psychiatrist did have a basic understanding of
‘statementing,’ the way this works is outside of their training and
experience. This will, and does influence their opinion.
As the history of a learning disability is one of the three central criteria
used to say if the person is learning disabled according to NHS criteria
or not, and to the court system, then a detailed understanding is
necessary.
The point being, (all) professionals training and experience may distort
the evidence and their assessment, due to the restrictions in their basic
professional training.
If the aim of the review is to restrict and reduce the number of people
able to claim a lack of fitness, and/or the need for support, then
‘psychiatrists only’ would be useful, as their wider community based
experiences and training are limited, [and there are not enough
psychiatrists (or psychologists) available to do the work currently
needed.]
This situation is further restricted even when it comes to the need for
support. It is not in the training or experience of a psychiatrist to work
out the systems of support required for clients/patients. It takes
professionals many years of training and experience to fully understand
such systems, as teacher training illustrates.
Saying a person needs more time or more breaks, does not really help.
All this does is slow down the inevitable; it is the defendant’s
understanding and the ability to develop this within the context of
court that is required; and psychiatrists and many others do not have
the skills to adequately advise in this area.
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