Developing Vulnerability: A Situational Response to the Abuse of Women with Mental Disabilities

In this paper I present a critical analysis of the English law relating to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults, in particular how the law impacts on the sexual lives of adult women with mental disabilities. I consider the discourses of vulnerability that surround the different legal regimes and wh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Feminist legal studies 2016-11, Vol.24 (3), p.295-314
Main Author: Lindsey, Jaime
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Disabled people
Females
Gender Studies
Human Rights
Law
Law and Criminology
Legal system
Mental disorders
Political Theory
Public International Law
Sex crimes
Sexual assault
Violence
Vulnerability
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Summary:In this paper I present a critical analysis of the English law relating to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults, in particular how the law impacts on the sexual lives of adult women with mental disabilities. I consider the discourses of vulnerability that surround the different legal regimes and whether the emerging theoretical vulnerability literature can assist in developing more nuanced legal responses. I argue that the inherent jurisdiction and Care Act 2014 provide an opportunity to move away from the focus on inherent features of vulnerability such as mental disability towards a more nuanced, situational and embodied account of what it means to safeguard ‘vulnerable adults’. This has the potential to be developed in England through the new legal framework of the Care Act and can be achieved through targeting interventions against the situational causes of vulnerability, for example the perpetrators of sexual violence.
ISSN:0966-3622
1572-8455
DOI:10.1007/s10691-016-9330-z