Can you help with my research on whether defendants with learning disabilities or mental health conditions get enough help to communicate in court?
Introduction
My name is Edmore Masendeke.
I am a disabled PhD student at the University of Leeds School of Law.
I would like to speak to people to help with my research.
I am trying to find out if defendants with learning disabilities or mental health conditions get enough help to communicate and understand what happens in court.
A defendant is someone who is accused of doing something wrong by law.
About My research
I am doing interviews with defendants who have learning disabilities or mental health conditions to find out if they had someone to help them:
• understand what was going on in court
• understand the questions they were asked in court
• make the court understand their answers
I also want to find out if they feel the help they received worked well for them or not.
I would like to hear from you if you have:
• learning disability or mental health conditions,
• been a defendant in the past 4 years,
• had to go to court in England or Ireland, and
• had help from someone to help you communicate or understand what was going on in court.
I am most interested in talking to you if you had help from:
• an intermediary - this is someone who helps you talk to another person or organisation
• a disability advocate - this is someone who helps you to speak up, or speaks up for you, if you have a disability.
I want to find out:
• whether you think the help you received worked well
• if there are problems with this type of help
• how you think the help could be made better.
Helping me
I would like to hear about the help you received in court by doing an interview with you.
The interview would be online or by phone. It would last about 1 hour.
If you are interested in taking part in the research, please contact me on the following details:
• email: lw12etm@leeds.ac.uk
• phone: +44 07810 308 216 7
You can find out more about my research and how to participate in the attached information sheet. The second information sheets is in Easy Read format.
Edmore Masendeke_Interview_Participant_Information_Sheet_V2.0_04022021_England.pdf (124.7 KB)
2028 Information Sheet Marie Curie Easy Read Lo Res v4.pdf (1.8 MB)
This research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie (Grant Agreement No 814249) and has been approved by the University Research Ethics Committee.
Find attached a copy of the information in this message below.
2028 Interview Flyer Marie Curie Easy Read Lo Res v4.pdf (1.2 MB)