Protecting and empowering vulnerable adults : mental capacity law in practice

• Main Author: Lindsey, Jaime Tabitha
• Published: University of Birmingham 2018
• Subjects: 340; K Law (General)
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.760404

This thesis uses a socio-legal methodology to investigate how mental capacity law balances protection and empowerment of vulnerable adults in cases concerning capacity to: consent to sex, marry and decide on contact. The thesis questions answered are: 1) Who is understood to be vulnerable in mental capacity law and why? 2) To what extent do vulnerable adults participate in mental capacity law proceedings? 3) What forms of knowledge are valued in mental capacity law? 4) How do mental capacity law interventions balance protection and empowerment in relation to adults vulnerable to abuse? These questions are answered by analysing empirical data collected through Court of Protection observations, case file reviews and social worker interviews. I argue that mental capacity law views its subjects as inherently vulnerable, usually because of their disability, in contrast to viewing adults as being vulnerable for situational reasons. Contributing to vulnerability theory, I argue that vulnerability needs to be understood in situational, embodied and relational terms, rather than as caused by features inherent to the individual, such as their mental disability. Viewing adults as vulnerable in situational ways can lead to more nuanced interventions to protect them from abuse whilst ensuring they are empowered as decision-makers.