ABSTRACT
‘Vulnerability’ is a term that is both lauded and regarded with suspicion; it can serve to empower or disempower. The disempowering nature of vulnerability can be particularly problematic where the individual does not self-identify as vulnerable. As C. Levine has noted, vulnerability is not simply something negative such as ‘being at risk’ but can also denote a positive characteristic, that is ‘being in touch with one’s feelings’. The field of legal psychology has heavily contributed to how vulnerability is framed for the purposes of the appropriate adult safeguard. Whilst physical illnesses are recognised as creating or exacerbating vulnerability for the purposes of a criminal trial, they are not included within the definition of vulnerability for the purposes of the appropriate adult safeguard in police custody. Vulnerability is intangible and can possibly only be deeply understood through one’s own lived experience.
