| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
Neglecting justice?
— Exploring Scottish convictions for ill-treatment and wilful neglect | | Author(s) | Christopher Godwin, Kathryn Mackay |
| Journal title | Journal of Adult Protection, vol 17, no 4, 2015 |
| Publisher | Emerald, 2015 |
| Pages | pp 234-244 |
| Source | www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/jap.htm |
| Keywords | Elder abuse ; Neglect [care] ; Mental disorder ; Physical disabilities ; Human rights ; Criminal law ; Scotland. |
| Annotation | The purpose of this paper was to explore the perceived low number of Scottish criminal convictions in cases of ill-treatment or wilful neglect of adults where the victims experienced mental disorder and/or incapacity. Human rights and anti-discrimination legislation were drawn upon to consider whether victims were gaining equality of access to justice through the charging and conviction of those who committed these offences. The paper used the concept of parity of participation to first set out the wider legal framework in which access of justice took place and to try to determine how it may have been working in practice. The paper then explored Scottish guidance, research and case law in relation to ill-treatment or wilful neglect to evaluate the seeming lack of progress towards criminal convictions. Whilst the legal framework, at least on paper, appears to promote equality of access to justice, little is known about how it is working in practice _ in particular whether cultural barriers to participation are being addressed. Evaluation of Scottish statistical data on cases of ill-treatment and wilful neglect revealed a small number of cases progressing to court though there were challenges in constructing a pathway from charges to convictions. There also appeared to be no Scottish legal opinions published in connection with these cases. Overall there appears to be scant information available on the number and nature of Scottish prosecutions for ill-treatment or wilful neglect. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-150807211 A |
| Classmark | QNT: QNR: E: BN: IKT: VX: 9A |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|