Mental Health Act 2005 Analysis
Compare and contrast the Police powers under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
A discussion will be around the two Acts of Law regarding mental health that Constables should abide by; Mental Health Act 1983 and Mental Capacity Act 2005. The Mental Health Act will be broken down and summarised made to be comprehendible. Followed by a close examination of the Mental Capacity Act, before comparing the two in order to weigh out the positives and negatives of both Acts of Law. This will be done using real life cases.
Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 gives a Constable a preserved power of arrest under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 permitting reasonable force. In addition, the caution should …show more content…
However the person should be informed that their liberty is temporarily restricted. Furthermore due to being arrested under PACE, Bryant and Bryant (2015) state that a Police Officer then has the power to search using Section 32 of PACE. A Constable is not permitted to enter a private place under the Mental Health Act 1983, without a warrant. The following informs and defines the two warrants made available and when exercising the warrants the Constable must be accompanied by an approved Mental Health Practitioner. The first is under Section 135 (1) of the Mental Health Act 1983, Brown (2013) highlights that this gives a Constable power to enter a private premises with a warrant and remove a person suffering a Mental Disorder permitting there is reasonable suspicion to suspect that the person is being or has been ill-treated or lives alone and is unable …show more content…
A Constable may make the decision to remove the person to a place of safety, such as a specialised mental hospital for treatment. Metropolitan Police (2011) states that the Constable must be acting in the best interests of the person and may use this power in a public or private place such as an individual is attempting suicide in their home. An example where the Section 5 will be used in a public place is when someone is a victim of a serious assault or who has been in a serious accident, for the reasons that, a person may become confused due to the trauma or head injury, thus not have the Mental Capacity. Additionally it is acceptable under this Act for a Constable to use necessary and proportionate restrain to prevent a person from harm to themselves and force may be used to move the person from one place to
A discussion will be around the two Acts of Law regarding mental health that Constables should abide by; Mental Health Act 1983 and Mental Capacity Act 2005. The Mental Health Act will be broken down and summarised made to be comprehendible. Followed by a close examination of the Mental Capacity Act, before comparing the two in order to weigh out the positives and negatives of both Acts of Law. This will be done using real life cases.
Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 gives a Constable a preserved power of arrest under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 permitting reasonable force. In addition, the caution should …show more content…
However the person should be informed that their liberty is temporarily restricted. Furthermore due to being arrested under PACE, Bryant and Bryant (2015) state that a Police Officer then has the power to search using Section 32 of PACE. A Constable is not permitted to enter a private place under the Mental Health Act 1983, without a warrant. The following informs and defines the two warrants made available and when exercising the warrants the Constable must be accompanied by an approved Mental Health Practitioner. The first is under Section 135 (1) of the Mental Health Act 1983, Brown (2013) highlights that this gives a Constable power to enter a private premises with a warrant and remove a person suffering a Mental Disorder permitting there is reasonable suspicion to suspect that the person is being or has been ill-treated or lives alone and is unable …show more content…
A Constable may make the decision to remove the person to a place of safety, such as a specialised mental hospital for treatment. Metropolitan Police (2011) states that the Constable must be acting in the best interests of the person and may use this power in a public or private place such as an individual is attempting suicide in their home. An example where the Section 5 will be used in a public place is when someone is a victim of a serious assault or who has been in a serious accident, for the reasons that, a person may become confused due to the trauma or head injury, thus not have the Mental Capacity. Additionally it is acceptable under this Act for a Constable to use necessary and proportionate restrain to prevent a person from harm to themselves and force may be used to move the person from one place to