People with intellectual disabilities are a group at specific risk during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic because of marked mental and physical health multimorbidity (Cuypers et al., 2020; Turk, Landes, Formica, & Goss, 2020). The social distancing and isolation measures implemented to manage the pandemic are known to impair mental health (Brooks et al., 2020; Torales, O'Higgins, Castaldelli-Maia, & Ventriglio, 2020), and this burden is also likely to be greater for people with intellectual disabilities, because they have generally poorer coping abilities (Courtenay & Perera, 2020). Caring for people with intellectual disability is stressful, leading, even under normal conditions, to high levels of perceived stress and burnout (Panicker &

This paper provides a systemic review of the available literature on people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the criminal justice system (CJS). The review considers two main types of study: those that examined the prevalence of people with ASD in the CJS and those where the prevalence of offending is examined in populations with ASD. In addition, types of offences in people with ASD, co-morbid psychiatric diagnoses, and characteristics of people with ASD who commit offences (including predisposing factors) are considered. A combination of search terms was used in a variety of databases in order to find all of the available literature on this topic, and research studies were included based on specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. It was found that whilst there is an emerging literature on this topic, there are a wide variety of methodologies used, making direct comparison between studies difficult. Nevertheless it can be concluded so far that people with ASD do not seem to be disproportionately over-represented in the CJS, though they commit a range of crimes and seem to have a number of predisposing features. There is poor evidence of the presence of comorbid psychiatric diagnoses (except in mental health settings) amongst offenders with ASD, and little evidence of the oft-asserted overrepresentation of certain kinds of crimes. It is recommended that further research of good quality is required in this area, rather than studies that examine populations that are not representative of all those with ASD.-1

ABSTRACT. A survey of self‐injurious behaviour in people receiving services for mental handicap was carried out in one health region. Six hundred and sixteen adults and children were found to have engaged in self‐injurious behaviour sufficient to have caused tissue damage in the previous 4 months and 596 of these were screened. Half were resident in hospital while 28% were in non‐hospital residential care and the remainder (21%) were living at home. Nearly one‐fifth (19%) showed self‐injurious behaviour, of one or more types, at a rate of at least once per hour and a further 13% wore protective or restraining devices for all or part of the day or night. Only 2% were enrolled on formal psychological treatment programmes but nearly half were receiving psychotropic drugs (excluding anticonvulsants).

The reasons for the poorer knowledge and increased vulnerability of people with intellectual disabilities are discussed and it is recommended that they should have on-going access to sex education. Implications of the findings for definitions of capacity to consent to sexual relationships are considered.

The skills, social impairments and challenging behaviours of a total population of 166 children, with severe intellectual disabilities and/or autism, were assessed through interview with the main carers, when the children were under 15 years old (time 1). Twelve years later, 141 of these individuals were re-assessed, using the same measures (time 2). "Abnormal" behaviours tended to reduce with age and were associated with poorer language skills and poorer quality of social interaction. Individuals with most abnormal behaviours at time 1, tended to have most at time 2. Abnormal behaviour at time 2 was predicted by the presence of abnormal behaviour at time 1, poor expressive language at time 1, poor quality of social interaction at time 1 and a diagnosis of autism/autistic continuum at time 1.