Scottish Lunacy and Mental Deficiency Laws
This Committee, under the Chairmanship of Lord Russell, was appointed by the Scottish Office in February, 1938, but in July, 1939 its sittings were suspended and not resumed until October, 1943. Its terms of reference were to inquire into the existing law of Scotland relating to Lunacy and Mental Deficiency and to make recommendations as to amendments.
Lunacy
After a historical review, the Report discusses the present situation and makes a number of recommendations, amongst which the following may be cited as being of special interest to non-Scottish readers:
(a) That the terms, ” lunatic ” insane person ” and ” person of unsound mind” should be dropped and superseded by the term ” mental patient ” and that no more precise definition of this term should be attempted other than of ” any person who on account of mental illness, is certified by two medical men to be a person requiring to be detained for the purposes of care and treatment
(b) That the system of voluntary treatment in use in Scotland since 1862, should be continued and that the English Mental Treatment Act should be adopted in respect of its provisions for temporary treatment.
(c) That the validity of a Certificate of Emergency should be extended from 3 to 7 days.
(d) That lunatic wards in Poorhouses should be discontinued.
(e) That senile patients should not be certified under the Lunacy Acts except when other arrangements cannot be made.
(/) That there should be a special department of the Central Health Authority to deal with Mental Health in all its branches. (g) That Local Authorities should have an ” advisory and rehabilitation department with psychiatric social workers, and that there should also be psychiatric social workers attached to asylums, one or more being on the staff of each asylum according to its size “. (,h) That Observation Wards should be attached to General Hospitals, properly equipped and staffed.
(i) That all asylums should have a special reception unit and that there should be more mental clinics attached to General Hospitals.
Mental Deficiency
After an examination of the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1913?passed at the same time as the English Act?the Report devotes a chapter to the question of mental defectives accused of criminal offences. The desirability of making mental defect (as well as lunacy) a ” plea in bar of trial ” is discussed, but in view of the fact that a Jury can pronounce a defective as being ” unfit to plead “, the Committee did not consider that there was need for any further safeguarding in this respect. (From this view, Professor D. K. Henderson dissented in a memorandum published at the end of the Report.)
It is recommended, however, that the provisions of Section 8 (1) of the English Mental Deficiency Act, 1913 (giving Courts power to send a defective to an Institution instead of committing him to prison or to an Approved School) should?with appropriate adaptations?be added to Section 9 (I) of the Scottish Act, which already makes some provision.!
It is further recommended that there should be established a centrally situated State Institution for mental defectives of dangerous or violent propensities (at present the only accommodation of this kind consists of a few beds in the general prison at Perth). Facilities for transfering such defectives from a Certified Institution to the State Institution for a period of 6 or 12 months, which are available to English Local Authorities, should, it is suggested, be adopted in Scotland.
Other recommendations include:
(a) That the definitions set forth in the English 1927 Act should be used, with the exception of the ” moral defective ” grade. In adopting them, however, it is suggested that the categories should be referred to merely as A, B, and C, respectively. Further, that children who are educable in Special Schools should not be termed mentally defective.
Appended to this recommendation is a note on the need for legislation making provision fof the training and supervision of unstable adolescents and adults displaying behaviour disorders, but not certifiable under either the Mental Deficiency or the Lunacy Acts:
(b) That Local Authorities should be authorized to deal under the Mental Deficiency Act> with M.D. children under 5 years of age* with the consent of the parent or guardian* but that each such case should be reviewed on attaining the age of 5, and re-certification should be necessary if the child is to remain * Report of the Committee on the Scottish Lunacy and Mental Deficiency Laws. H.M. Stationery Office, London and Edinburgh. 2s.
t See Report, page 69, para. 379. in a certified institution, or under guardianship. That the duty of providing education and training for trainable defectives up to the age of 16, should be laid on Education Authorities and not transferred, as at present to the Public Assistance Authorities (responsible for Mental Deficiency Act administration). From this view, two members of the Committee, Lord Provost John Phin, LL.D., and Professor D. K. Henderson, M.D., dissent, stating in a Memorandum that mental defect should be regarded primarily as a medical and not an educational problem.
(c) That the duty of dealing with defectives over 18 requiring continued care and training, should be transferred to Mental Health Committees representing Education, Public Health and Public Assistance, with a SubCommittee for mental defect only.
(d) That the provision for Statutory Supervision of Mental Defectives made by the English Act, should be added to the Scottish Mental Deficiency code.*
(e) That a Central Index should be set up containing the names of all cases certified under the Mental Deficiency Act, all children sent to Special Schools and notified on leaving school at 16, and all defectives over 16 discovered by the Courts.
The Report raises some interesting questions for discussion and includes recommendations likely to be controversial. Some of its recommendations are, of course, bound up with the recent Scottish National Health Services Bill and the Education (Scotland) Act 1945 by which they will be directly affected.
This refers to defectives found ” subject to be dealt with ” but not actually certified.
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