Unfitness to Plead Consultation Responses - Law Commission ...

Hence, in the medical model, being able to talk about your past is
important, whereas in a socio-educational model it is how this
discussion is related to day to day life and your ability to function
socially.
One is based on the abilities within the interview within a clinic based
setting, the other about how the interview links to the social world of
the person, and how this then conforms to what we know about them.
With the latter system, one also looks to see how they respond, knowing
that the ‘less able’ in the community learn how to respond, irrespective
of genuine understanding.
If one is basing a decision on an interview, then one is severely
restricting the options. What one may be assessing is not the
interviewee, but the interviewer, and their ability to pick up subtle
difficulties hidden using skills developed over many years. After all,
those who are less able, and ‘unfit,’ do not want to be seen as such,
and therefore work hard over many years to hide the obvious signs.
The ability to address the evidence is always interesting, as it is typically
written down.
Most psychiatrists do not carry out reading accuracy and reading
comprehension tests, and they are not trained to use them.
Nor are they are not trained in diagnosing dyslexia or hyperlexia, which
is useful to consider as one may under-estimate the underlying
intellectual ability, while the other typically over-estimates it.
Suggesting that defendants have the evidence read aloud to them by
counsel is fine; assuming that the defendant has the concentration,
attention and memory skills to be able to listen and take in all the
information, and then be able to make sense of it all, as opposed to
being confused by it.
A conversation about your own past is easier than a conversation
about evidence and the opinions of what others saw, or say they saw,
and the implications that such evidence has to you as a defendant in
court.
These issues related to the skills and abilities needed to access
evidence and the ability to consult with counsel, are not addressed by
psychiatrists, as they are not trained to do so and they are relatively
unlikely to come up in the interview.
Asking the question, ‘can you read,’ or something similar, could be
considered as naïve, as the answer will typically come back as ‘yes,’
irrespective of their true, underlying ability.
info@grahamrogers.org.uk
www.grahamrogers.org.uk