Race Equality, Human Rights and Mental Health Legislation: Recent Developments in England and Wales (Editorials‪)‬

England now has revised mental health legislation following the passage of a mental health Bill through both Houses of Parliament following protracted discussions over seven years. The Mental Health Bill 2006, amending the Mental Health Act 1983, eventually received Royal Assent on 19 July 2007. There is much that could be said about the new Act, which makes a number of important changes to the present legislation. These changes include a new single definition of mental disorder; the abolition of the so-called 'treatability test'; and the extension of compulsion into the community through a supervised community treatment order. However, we wish to focus on a previously little discussed issue that is now engaging many commentators in the UK: the disproportionate admission and detention of black and minority ethnic patients in mental hospitals, (1,2) and the lack of sufficient attention to this matter during the preparatory phases of the new Act.