Unfitness to Plead Consultation Responses - Law Commission ...

In this case, it is being proposed that those with no experience of
developing and working with such systems advise the courts. Do such
professionals understand how the teaching and learning history of an
individual affects future support and the challenges that will present?
If the aim is to produce a superficial system whereby ‘boxes are
ticked,’ then the idea that an untrained professional try to advise in an
area where they lack the training, then such a proposal is excellent.
However, I do not think that is what is being proposed.
I should clarify, the aim of this response is not to criticise psychiatrists,
but to raise awareness that they are not a panacea to the difficulties
highlighted.
In my view, all professional groups have their limitations, including
psychologists. In essence, one size does not fit all.
Pritchard (1836)
The Pritchard rules in my view form a good foundation upon which to
build when considering the fitness to plea issues. However, they are
both restrictive and somewhat arbitrary.
In my view, the notion of ‘understanding’ needs to be set within a
‘daily life’ and community based setting, as this reflects the real world
for most people.
Hence, with regard to those with learning difficulties or disabilities, the
court currently uses the IQ cut off of 69/70. That is, if you have an IQ of
69 or less, and the other criteria are met, then you can claim, in theory,
to have a learning disability and the court will accept that special
provision needs to be made.
However, fitness to plea, in my experience requires an IQ score of 60 or
less before a court will consider this as a relevant issue. Hence, the
defendant is not needing to be in the lowest 2% of the population, but
within the lowest 0.5%, often reflecting the adult population with whom
psychiatrists typically work.
Understanding and communication:
Further, one needs to understand the language skills of the defendants.
For psychiatrists to work with clients they need to have reasonable
expressive and receptive language skills. However, if, as is often found,
the defendant has reasonable or good expressive language and
appears able to make themselves understood reasonably clearly, they
are deemed ‘more able.’ However, this is based on a medical model,
as opposed to a socio-educational model.
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