THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR PROTECTING VULNERABLE ADULTS
المؤلف:
DEBRA FEARNS
المصدر:
Caring for People with Learning Disabilities
الجزء والصفحة:
P60-C4
2025-10-09
233
THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR PROTECTING VULNERABLE ADULTS
The regulations relating to the ill-treatment of vulnerable adults with learning disabilities are often complex and not always easy to understand. However, laws are in place which can be used either to protect vulnerable adults or to act on their behalf if a crime or offence has been committed against them. It does require carers, students and professionals to have some knowledge of the law and knowledge of whom to contact for further assistance. If a criminal offence is suspected, it should always be referred to the police. Advice should always be sought from senior colleagues and managers on the next stages that should follow. ‘Doing nothing’ is not an option.
The topics outlined below are based on the definitions outlined in the No Secrets guidance (Department of Health 2000). The following list is not complete, but is meant to denote laws that can help and support vulnerable adults with learning disabilities, and offer them protection within a legal framework.
PHYSICAL ABUSE
Assault
An offence of common assault is committed when a person assaults another person. Assault also takes account of both behavior and language, so that any acts or words in connection with the use or threat of immediate violence to another person may signify assault.
Battery
An offence of battery is committed when a person intentionally and recklessly applies unlawful force to another. It carries a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment and/or a fi ne not exceeding the statutory maximum.
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm: section 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861
This is defined by the degree of injury and the sentences available to the court. A key factor here would be:
‘b. the vulnerability of the victim, such as when the victim is elderly, disabled or a child assaulted by an adult . . . the charge will normally be assault occasioning actual bodily harm.’
(Assault Occasioning Grievous Bodily Harm, sections 18 and 20, Offences Against the Person Act 1861)
Affray: section 3(1) of the Public Order Act 1986
This offence involves the use of threatening violence to another person and the other person fearing for his/her personal safety.
Fear or provocation of violence: section 4(1) of the Public Order Act 1986
This may involve threatening, abusive or insulting words and behavior to another person, or threatening, abusive or insulting signs, writing or other visible representations that provoke unlawful violence or where the other person fears that unlawful violence will be used against them.
Restraint or the threat of restraint can amount to an assault or battery. It can also include any practice involving physical force, such as force-feeding. In addition, the human rights of the person may also be infringed, under the Human Rights Act 1998.
The detention of an adult against his/her wishes can constitute false imprisonment. In addition, specific guidance exists to protect adults with learning disabilities from physical restraint, as outlined by Harris et al. (1996). In addition, further advice suggests that:
‘Professionals working with vulnerable people have a duty of care to ensure that in this context it means a need to avoid actions that may harm others, and that the agencies they work for act always in the best interest of the service user. Also, the framework provided by criminal and civil law should ensure that people can live without “interference from others” including for example assault or false imprisonment.’
(Powell & Northfield 2002)
These laws can offer a measure of protection for adults with learning disabilities if the incidents are reported as crimes and prosecuted effectively. Identifying and supporting adults with learning disabilities who are vulnerable as victims or perpetrators of crime by police officers are also problematic, with many police officers’ relying on intuition and appearance, amongst other unreliable factors (Fearns 2001). When combined with some professionals working within the criminal justice system’s having a limited understanding of the needs of disabled adults, it is not difficult to understand why some believe that they will not be ‘credible’ witnesses. As Clare and Murphy (2001) point out, too:
‘. . . people with learning disabilities themselves need to be empowered to recognize, and respond to crime and other types of anti-social behavior against themselves or others’.
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