Rethinking Bail by Max Travers & Emma Colvin & Isabelle Bartkowiak-Théron & Rick Sarre & Andrew Day & Christine Bond

Author:Max Travers & Emma Colvin & Isabelle Bartkowiak-Théron & Rick Sarre & Andrew Day & Christine Bond
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030448813
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

What Is Vulnerability?

The language used by social welfare agencies to describe social divisions has changed considerably in recent decades. Whereas defendants were once described as having social needs, or suffering from poverty and disadvantage, today they are often described as having vulnerabilities. In some respects, this concept can be criticized for accepting the economic structures and processes that produce disadvantaged groups or for implying a deficit model of defendants in need of rehabilitation.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Bartkowiak-Théron and Asquith (2012b) and Kate Brown (2015) demonstrate that vulnerability has a variety of meanings today. It has been used by progressive intellectuals to mean that everyone is vulnerable and should be protected by universal human rights. In social policy, it is a convenient term for groups helped by welfare professionals. However, instead of receiving help, such groups can be blamed for being partially responsible for their circumstances. Brown notes how the concept invites debate about the distinction between “deserving” and “undeserving” clients:Distinguishing people as vulnerable implies something about a person’s degree of choice or human agency in their circumstances, carrying inferences about the responsibility and duty of the state to assist them. (Brown 2015, pp. 164–165)

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