If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Offenders with intellectual disability (ID) have been largely neglected in past forensic literature on assessment of dynamic risk factors. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the predictive validity of the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START), in a sample of males with IDs in a low-secure hospital (n ¼ 28). Design/methodology/approach -A prospective analysis was conducted, with START scores as the predictor variables, and the number of recorded aversive incidents as the outcome measure. Findings -Receiver operating characteristic analysis demonstrated that total START risk scores had a significant high predictive accuracy for incidents of physical aggression to others (area under the curve (AUC) ¼ 0.710, po0.001) and property damage/theft (AUC ¼ 0.730, po0.001), over a 30-day period, reducing to medium predictive validity over a 90-day period. Medium predictive validity was also identified for incidents of verbal aggression, suicide, self-harm, and stalking and intimidation. START strength scores were also predictive of overt aggression (AUC ¼ 0.716), possible reasons for this are explored.Research limitations/implications -The small sample size limits the generalisability of the findings, and further research is required. Practical implications -The paper offers preliminary support for the use of the START with ID offenders in low-secure settings. Given the lack of validation of any previous dynamic risk assessment tools, multidisciplinary teams in such settings now have the option to use a tool which has potentially good validity with an ID population. Originality/value -This study represents the first attempt to examine the predictive validity of the START with ID offenders, and a step forward in the understanding of dynamic risk factors for violence in this population. The significant predictive relationship with incidents of physical aggression and property damage offers clinicians a preliminary evidence base supporting its use in low-secure settings.

Aims and MethodThis was a retrospective case note analysis of all referrals to an inner-London child and family consultation service aiming to examine any changes in patterns of referral and attendance of Bangladeshi and indigenous families over the previous 10-year period.ResultsBangladeshi referrals increased over the period but remained under-represented compared to indigenous families. They were less likely to attend an initial appointment, but once engaged with the service dropout rates were unaffected by ethnicity.Clinical ImplicationsImproved communication between the department, families and referrers may help to increase understanding of the function of the department and lead to more equitable uptake of services in the future.

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Exceptionally severe deprivation can result in a perhaps identical picture. 11 While much recent work has stressed a neuro-cognitive perspective focussing on the autistic subjects' lack of understanding of the existence of minds ('theory of mind'), it is important to recognise that in normal development, engagement with people, with the mother as a person, comes first. 'For those of us who do not have autism, it is natural to become engaged with people. We do not have concern or hatred for others because we think they have a mind. It is the other way round: we come to think people have minds because we find we are involved with them. What we begin with is our attitudes towards persons'. 12 The disorder is manifest as subtle differences in development compared with normal individuals: '[The] typical infant comes equipped with a partly innate set of neurological mechanisms for making sense of other people's actions, emotional expressions and vocalisations. The two year old who will comfort his mother when she is looking sad, or who will refrain from hitting his sister because he is aware that she can feel pain, is already mind-reading (or empathising). The 14-month-old child who will look where her father is pointing-without being taught-is already mindreading her father's intention to direct her to look not at his finger, but at the event across the room that has caught her father's interest. That same 14-month-old who will then look back at her father's eyes, to signal she has seen what he has seen, to acknowledge that the message has been received and the emotional significance shared, is demonstrating extraordinary mind-reading skills-all without words. Such looks and exchanges of smiles and acknowledgements are reduced or delayed in many children who go on to receive a diagnosis of autism or Asperger's syndrome'. 13 An account of the effect on the AS sufferer is provided by an intelligent young man recalling his childhood: I really didn't know there were people until I was seven years old. I then suddenly realised there were people. But not like you do. I still have to remind myself that there are people [...] I never could have a friend. I 11 See M. Rutter et al., 'Quasi-autistic patterns following severe early global privation',