Book review

You're under Arrest

Sheila Hollins, Isabel Clare & Glynis Murphy (illustra-tions by Beth Webb)

Gaskell/Royal College of Psychiatrists, London. 1996. 69 pp.,

£10.00 (pbk).

You're on Trial

Sheila Hollins, Glynis Murphy & Isabel Clare (illustra-tions by Beth Webb)

Gaskell/Royal College of Psychiatrists, London. 1996. 82 pp.,

£10.00 (pbk).

Understanding the process of law is hard for all of uswho work outside the legal professions. The rapidgrowth in training courses for expert witnessesclearly demonstrates that even the most competentof professionals can find the experience of being incourt highly stressful, even if it is only one'sprofessional opinion that is `on trial'. Thesecomplimentary and very useful volumes represent abrave attempt to explain key steps in the legalprocess in a format that can be understood bypeople with intellectual disability who may comeinto contact with the criminal justice system.

The books follow the same format previously usedby Sheila Hollins in her publications onbereavement. Large, coloured pictures are used totell the story of a person with learning disabilitieswho is arrested and then sent for trial. Each picture

has an accompanying narrative, and a set of word andpicture notes on key people and concepts are alsoprovided at the end of each volume. The first volumecovers the steps from arrest through to interview andbail, while the second deals with the trial process. Theauthors stress that both texts are to be used as guidesas they cannot possibly reflect all possible legalprocedures and outcomes; this qualification appliesparticularly to the second volume.

This is not the first attempt to cover this materialin this form (see Hartley & Parry, undated), but itcertainly appears to be the most comprehensiveeffort to have appeared to date. Despite the obviouscare that has gone into both the text and thepictures, some of the material is unavoidably fairlyabstract. Therefore, people with more severedisabilities will find it hard to follow. However, thismay not be such a major criticism in this instancesince it is people who are more able who are morelikely to experience arrest and trial. The acid test forthese publications has to be whether or not onewould find them useful in clinical practice. Despitethe concerns mentioned above, my own answerwould be an unequivocal, `Yes!'

Reference

Hartley K. & Parry A. (undated) A Visit to Court. CrownOffice and Procurator Fiscal Service, Glasgow.

David Allen

# 1998 Blackwell Science Ltd

Journal of Intellectual Disability Research

VOLUME 42 PART 3 p 261 JUNE 1998261