Abstract

Vulnerable adults are disproportionately represented within the criminal justice system (Oxburgh et al., 2016), which has led to increased attention on police custody as a key point of intervention. Within custody, vulnerability is primarily identified through risk assessments conducted by custody sergeants under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE). However, screening tools alone are often insufficient to identify vulnerability, meaning decisions are frequently shaped by professional discretion, judgement, and risk-based discourse (McKinnon and Finch, 2018). Despite a range of legislative frameworks, policies, and professional roles designed to safeguard detainees, vulnerability remains a contested concept. Existing research examines vulnerability in custody through specific roles and processes (Skinns, 2012; McKinnon and Finch, 2018; Dehaghani, 2016; Farrugia, 2021; Rees, 2022), however, little is known on how these roles interact in practice, and how vulnerability is collectively constructed through multi-agency working and everyday social processes within a custody setting.
This academic poster presents the outline and progress of an ongoing part-time PhD project (2024–2031) examining how vulnerability is identified, interpreted, and responded to within police custody suites across England and Wales. The project adopts a qualitative and sociological approach to examine how practitioners understand and enact processes around vulnerability in practice. It explores how embodied knowledge and professional judgement interact with formal policy and procedural frameworks in day-to-day custody work. The research involves interviews with custody sergeants, detention officers, liaison and diversion practitioners, and appropriate adults, focusing on how policy is interpreted and applied in practice with vulnerable detainees.
My PhD is with Newcastle University within the Sociology department. I was one of the winner's for the poster presentation competition.