Response to the Department of Health and Social Care’s White Paper on reforming the Mental Health Act 1983

“The Howard League welcomes the aims of the White Paper, especially reducing compulsion and detention and addressing racial disparities in the use of the Act. However, some of the proposals may have unintended consequences and would be better addressed through resource commitments. The White Paper should also go further by fully preventing prisons from being used as a place of safety or protection, and by doing more to counter the accumulated disadvantage experienced by Black people who come to the attention of mental health services.”

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