Developing evidence for a national strategy for older adults in the criminal justice system: overview of the nominal group approach for this series of brief reports

Abstract

The number of people aged 50 and over entering the criminal justice system (CJS) in England and Wales is growing. This raises questions as to the suitability of the CJS to equitably accommodate individuals with complex illness or impairment, who might experience difficulties in cognitive function, frailty, and/or impaired mobility. Findings from the government, the third sector, and academic literature have highlighted the difficulties experienced by older adults in the CJS and those tasked with supporting them. To inform the development of the Ministry of Justice's national strategy for older people in prison, we conducted a series of nominal focus groups with policy makers, practitioners, prison staff, representatives from the third sector, and academics, each focusing on a specific topic area that impacts older adults in prison. These were: 1) older adult trajectories; 2) long term conditions; 3) dementia; 4) mental health; 5) social care; 6) end of life care; 7) women; 8) ethnicity; and 9) COVID-19. An additional nominal group was also held with older adults currently in prison to discuss what they thought should be included in the national strategy more broadly. This paper presents the methodology of the nominal groups and subsequent analysis, as well as providing a rationale for the research. It serves as a precursor to a series of papers reporting and discussing the findings of the topic-specific nominal groups.

Keywords: Older adults; criminal justice system; nominal groups; prison; thematic analysis.