Protecting Vulnerable Adults from Abuse: Under-protection and Over-protection in Adult Safeguarding and Mental Capacity Law

In this article I explore law and practice at the intersection between adult safeguarding and mental capacity law to show that adults vulnerable to abuse are left under-protected in some cases and over-protected in others. In particular, I argue that the MCA has become a tool for protecting vulnerable adults from abuse, yet this is done in ways that restrict and control the vulnerable victim. Instead, the approach to adult safeguarding needs to shift from restricting and controlling vulnerable adults towards tackling perpetrators of abuse. Learning from recent developments in civil law responses to domestic abuse, I suggest that safeguarding adults law should similarly adopt an approach that focuses on perpetrators of abuse by incorporating a safeguarding adults protection order instead of resorting to mental capacity law.