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Hertfordshire is to get a "Mental Health Court" |
A Hertfordshire magistrates court is to become a "mental health court" with a view to improving the way psychiatric advice is given to the court.
As from 1 September Mike O'Leary, a nurse from the Hertfordshire Partnerhship NHS Foundation Trust, will attend the Central Hertfordshire Magistrates Court each morning to give advice and assistance to defendants and also to provide oral and written reports to magistrates sentencing convicted offenders with mental health issues.
This could include advising the court that sentencing should be adjourned while a full psychiatric assessment is carried out or advising the court on other appropriate treatments, such as taking part in mental health treatment as part of a community order.
At present courst already order psychiatric assessments where they believe an offender has mental health issues, but these take a lot of time and are not always necessary. Under the new system Mike will offer a professional opinion as to whether such a report is required, thus leading to fewer and therefore faster reports.
Mike will also be offering advice to probation officers who are themselves preparing pre-sentence reports for the courts and will work closely with them in recommending treatment plans and sentencing options to the court.
The initiative is part of Hertfordshire's response to the Bradley Report, which produced a raft of recommendations for improving services in relation to offenders with mental health needs.
A "mental health court" was just one of many recommendations in the report and has already been piloted in Brighton and in Stratford, East London.
It is hoped that the idea will in due course be rolled out to other parts of Hertfordshire.
Hertfordshire's response to the Bradley Report is being driven forward by Sue Urwin, a Hertfordshire Probation employee seconded to the Hertfordshire Criminal Justice Board for two years. As part of her joint-funded role, she looked at the viability of mental health courts for Hertfordshire.
Sue said: "This is a hugely exciting initiative that will enhance the work with offenders of both the mental health service and the probation service and will, we hope, reduce re-offending. It will ensure psychiatric provision will be focussed on people with the most acute mental health issues and demonstrating the highest level of risk to the public."
Sue added: "Many offenders have personality disorders or mental disorders and until now the court's only recourse has been to call for a full psychiatric report. This is very specialised work that takes a lot of time. The great thing about Mike's role is that he will weed out those cases that don't require such specialist attention, which means the courts can administer justice much faster."
For more information contact Sue Urwin:
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Last Updated on Friday, 10 September 2010 08:57 |
