Catherine Staite - Diversion from Custody for Mentally Disordered Offenders

Diversion from Custody
for Mentally
Disordered Offenders

First Line Management: Staff by Kevin Ford and Sarah Hargreaves

Effective Use of Teambuilding by Alan Dearling

Manual on Elder Abuse by Chris Phillipson and Simon Biggs

Developing Training Skills by Tim Pickles and Howie Armstrong

Training for Mental Health by Thurstine Basset and Elaine Burrel

Monitoring and Evaluation in the Social Services by David and Suzanne Thorpe

Quest for Equality by Errol John and Barbara Deering

Care Sector Quality: A Training Manual Incorporating BS5750 by Steve Casson and Clive George

On Becoming a Manager in Social Work edited by Barbara Hearn, Giles Darvill and Beth Morris

Quality Assurance for Social Care Agencies by Emlyn Cassam and Himu Gupta

NSPCC: Child Sexual Abuse: Listening, Hearing and Validating the Experience of Children by Corinne Wattam, John Hughes and Harry Blagg

NSPCC: Listening to Children: The Professional Response to Hearing the Abused Child edited by Anne Bannister, Kevin Barrett and Eileen Shearer

NSPCC: From Hearing to Healing: Working with the Aftermath of Child Sexual Abuse edited by Anne Bannister

NSPCC: Making a Case in Child Protection by Corinne Wattam

NSPCC: Key Issues in Child Protection for Health Visitors and Nurses edited by Christopher Cloke and Jane Naish

Making Sense of the Children Act (2nd edition) by Nick Allen

Female Sexual Abuse of Children: The Ultimate Taboo edited by Michele Elliott

Looking After Young People in the Care System by Pat Goodall, Tony Laughland, Simon Biggs and Fergus Smith

Getting Started with NVQ: Tackling the Integrated Care Awards by Barry Meteyard

Young People and Drugs: A Multi-Disciplinary Training Manual by Mike Carr and Rosie Higgins

Answers: A Handbook for Residential and Foster Carers Looking After Young People Aged 11-13 Years by Ann Wheal and Ann Buchanan

a practical guide

by
Catherine Staite , Neill Martin
Michael Bingham and Rannoch Daly

First published 1994 by Longman Group Limited

Published 2017 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright Taylor & Francis 1994

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A catalogue record for this book is available from The British Library

ISBN 13: 978-0-582-23900-5 (pbk)

Typeset by The Midlands Book Typesetting Company, Loughborough, Leics.

Catherine Staite LLB
Director, North Humberside MIND

Catherine Staite is the Director of North Humberside MIND. A lawyer by training, Catherine spent five years teaching before joining North Humberside MIND in 1990.

Catherine's particular area of interest is mental health and offending. She chairs the North Humberside Forum on Mentally Disordered Offenders and is one of the managers of the Diversion from Custody Project, based at North Humberside MIND. She is a member of the Board of Visitors at Hull Prison.

Neill Martin BA, MBA
Senior Probation Officer

Neill Martin is a Senior Probation Officer (field team). Prior to his latest appointment he was the Senior Probation Officer at HM Prison Hull for three years. Qualified since 1981, Neill has a wide experience of working with people with mental health problems who commit offences.

While working in the prison Neill contributed to the successful development of the North Humberside Diversion from Custody Project.

Michael Bingham MSc
Inspector, Humberside Police

Michael Bingham is an Inspector with Humberside Police. He has 22 years of service in a variety of areas and is currently responsible for data protection. His interest in mentally disordered offenders contributed to the development of the multi-agency forum in North Humberside and the Diversion Project.

Rannoch Daly BA
Governor, HM Prison Hull

Rannoch Daly has been the Governor of HM Prison Hull for three years. Prior to that appointment he was involved in the planning and implementation of 'Fresh Start'. He is currently developing a strategy for Hull Prison's changing role to Community Prison, which involves partnership working with other agencies. His involvement has been instrumental in the successful development of the Diversion from Custody Project.

Tolerance and compassion which is often said, rightly or wrongly, to be a feature of our society, does not extend to people categorised as mentally disordered. Society is still uncomfortable and often fearful of people who are categorised in this way. Traditionally help from the statutory services has been poor, with a low spending priority being accorded for help to such a vulnerable group of people. If tolerance and compassion have been lacking generally for people categorised as mentally disordered, how much more so does this apply to the mentally disordered offender. Such a person appears to fulfil the expectations of society that they are less worthy than the 'average' citizen and images in the media fuel that approach and add the dimension of fear.

However, amongst people involved in the criminal justice system working with mentally disordered offenders, a change of culture is occurring. There cannot be many working in the system who do not believe that it is right to divert mentally disordered offenders from custody. This has been given added emphasis in the last few years, by the Home Office Circular in 1990 which encouraged such a policy of diversion. That was added to by the Code of Practice on the Mental Health Act 1983, first published in 1991, which refers to the vulnerability of people when in police or prison custody and drawing attention to the risk of suicide and other self harm for those detained in custody. Indeed, in the period leading up to the issue of the Home Office Circular, the number of those who committed suicide whilst held in custody and who had a history of mental health problems, including previous psychiatric in-patient admission, demonstrated very clearly why it was urgent to address the needs of this vulnerable group of people.

Those involved in this work though must understand and accept that there is a need for public safety and reassurance of the public. For Diversion Schemes ultimately to become accepted, the public as to be confident that they are not at risk by the promotion of such schemes. Equally however, the nature of the schemes, in order to achieve that confidence, must not be so tilted in favour of what society may demand, as to deprive offenders of their own rights. It is a very difficult balance. There must be certain principles on which such diversion schemes are based. At the very least these must be fairness and justice. There must also be accountability of the service. To tailor a service to meet individual needs without discrimination, to use the least restraint and confinement necessary, to provide adequate treatment and care for those who can benefit from it, and to do all this in the local community, requires flexibility and levels of co-operation between various Agencies, which traditionally have been lacking. Yet Government policy set out in the 1990 Home Office Circular has been quite explicit namely that mentally disordered offenders should receive care and treatment from Social Services and Health Authorities in preference to the criminal justice system. Some four years later a number of different models of schemes for diversion from custody exist. There is the temptation constantly 'to re-invent the wheel' and without necessarily a clear and shared vision of how such schemes should work.