1st Edition

Protecting the Public? Executive Discretion and the Release of Mentally Disordered Offenders

By Tessa Boyd-Caine Copyright 2010
216 Pages
by Willan

216 Pages
by Willan

The separation of powers and independent, judicial decision-making are generally accepted as hallmarks of the rule of law in democratic societies. Yet the exercise of executive discretion remains an important aspect of criminal justice in many areas. Protecting the Public? explores the tension between the rights of individuals detained under criminal and mental health law and the responsibility... Read more
1. Executive Discretion and the Rule of Law  2. Care and Control  3. The Operation of Executive Discretion  4. Relationships in the System of Executive Discretion  5. Constructing 'the public'  6. Human Rights and the Restricted Patient System 7. Patient Rights and Public Protection

Biography

Boyd-Caine, Tessa

'...recommended to anyone who would like a single source introduction to the topic of restricted patients.'
-John Hughes, Director of Interventions, Hertfordshire Probation Trust

'This is a very relevant and up-to-date book for those interested in the way managerial procedures inform practice within the field of mental health....It is informative and the primary data used provide an insider's view to a heavily-guarded and protected area of public policy.'
-Manos Daskalou, University of Northampton, in the British Journal of Community Justice vol 9

'...Boyd-Caine’s incisive analysis demonstrates that this system is emblematic of the increasing dominance of the risk agenda in contemporary penal policy.'

'There is no area which Boyd-Caine overlooks as she scrutinizes topics as complex as the fallibility of forensic psychiatry and its inadvertent collusion with the notion that mental disorder in itself is a risk factor. The exhaustive analysis offered is rich and satisfying in the justice it does to this far-from-straightforward policy area.'

'For those seeking an insight into the machinations that govern the restricted patient system, this book provides the answer. Further, Boyd-Caine’s grounded and principled exploration of this area goes a long way to provide evidence that the notion of public protection, in its current guise, is both nebulous and profoundly problematic in the false binaries it creates.'
-Eleanor Fellowes, Probation Officer, London Probation Trust in Probation Journal, vol 58 no 4