The Human Genome Project

In many Western jurisdictions, people with an intellectual disability are over-represented at various stages of the criminal justice system, including appearances before local courts, suspects undergoing police questioning, and in prisons. Whilst the over-representation has been established, little is known about concurrent factors which may contribute to the behaviour which brings them to the attention of the criminal justice system. Conversely, few data are available about people with an intellectual disability who have similar living environments, but who are not involved in criminal acts. This study examines a sample of 60 women, 30 of whom are ex-prisoners, and 30 of whom are presently living in similar unstable residential situations (refuge, welfare organisation accommodation, etc), but who do not have a history of prior imprisonment. No significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of prevalence of intellectual disability; 25% of the total group had an IQ score of 69 or lower, which would place them in the category of intellectual disability. In the ex-prisoner group, this figure was 29.7%, whereas in the non-prisoner group, it was 20%. A further 11.7% were in the borderline category of IQ score 70–79. Low verbal IQ scores correlated with alcohol or benzodiazepine abuse, smoking, self-harm and suicide, poor mental and physical health, low levels of education, and unstable accommodation. For both ex-prisoners and non-prisoners, high intelligence appeared to be a mediating factor, lessening the impact of other factors related to deprived and difficult living circumstances. The low levels of verbal ability revealed indicate the need for tailoring rehabilitation programmes for verbally impaired participants.