McFadden A1
1Beam Limited
Biography:
Amanda McFadden is private practitioner and doctoral student based in Auckland, New Zealand. She is registered under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, holding the Clinical Psychologist and Neuropsychologist scopes of practice. She completed her training in 1998. Amanda is regularly instructed as an expert witness across a range of jurisdictions. Areas of expertise and particular interest include the nexus between neurodevelopmental disorders and offending behaviour, capacity issues, complex trauma and the assessment of asylum seekers. Since 2004, Amanda has held the designation of Specialist Assessor under the Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act 2003.
Collectively, the Intellectual Disability Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (IDCCRA) Criminal Procedure and Mentally Impaired Persons Act 2003 (CPMIPA) provides a diversionary process for persons with an intellectual disability who are charged with, or convicted of, an offence. These statutes fill a gap left by deinstitutionalisation and related changes to mental health legislation. Being compelled to accept care and rehabilitation represents a loss of liberty. Specialist assessors are clinical psychologists and psychiatrists who perform forensic assessments under the IDCCRA framework. Specialist assessors are also expert witnesses and must abide by a Code of Conduct developed by the Courts. These dual roles bring pressures and competing professional obligations due to the pivotal role specialist assessors play in the detention of people under the IDCCRA. New Zealand’s ratification of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006, and subsequent definition of care recipients’ liberty interest in 2011, changed the landscape within which the IDCCRA operates. In RIDCA Central (Regional Intellectual Disability Care Agency Central) v VM, [2011], various terms were used by the Court of Appeal to denote the human rights interests of care recipients. The Court ultimately adopted the term “liberty interests” to describe these rights. This research explores specialist assessors’ approaches to liberty interests within the IDCCRA context. Clinical experience would suggest that some specialist assessors contemplate liberty issues in their assessments and reports. However, qualitative research utilising a descriptive methodology with special assessors will illuminate whether and how they integrate this human rights orientation. The researcher is an experienced specialist assessor and expert witness. This paper will discuss the preliminary and unexpected findings arising from the research and explore the potential human rights impacts on care recipients.