An Empirical Study on the Relationship Between Intellectual Ability and an Understanding of the Legal Process in Male Remand Prisoners

Parton, Felicity; Day, Andrew; White, J.L.

doi:10.1375/1321871041336037

Cited by 4 publications

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“…The detection of suspects with intellectual disability is the professional responsibility of Dutch police officers according to a policy guideline (Aanwijzing auditief en audiovisueel registreren van verhoren van aangevers, getuigen en verdachten, ); yet previous international research has shown that police officers lack the required knowledge and experience to adequately identify these suspects (Gudjonsson, ; Parton et al, ). We found that the screening instrument SCIL did not detect a significant proportion (about 34%) of police suspects who were found to suffer from mild intellectual disabilities (IQ below 85) according to an IQ measure.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We expect that this prevalence will be comparable with a previous study on police suspects, that is, that about 42% of police suspects have an IQ score between 70 and 79 and that about 8% of police suspects have an IQ score below 70 (Gudjonsson, Clare, Rutter, & Pearse, ). We will compare our obtained rate to prevalence rates previously found in police suspects (Young, Goodwin, Sedgwick, & Gudjonsson, ) and detainees in regular prisons (Hayes et al, ; Parton et al, ; Søndenaa, Rasmussen, Palmstierna, & Nøttestad, ) from other Western countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Hence, police officers must take precautions when interrogating suspects with intellectual disability (Gudjonsson, ; Kassin et al, ; O'Mahony, Milne, & Grant, ) by, for example, asking questions in a simple and clear way, using short sentences and speaking more slowly, and avoiding leading questions and interruptions (Gudjonsson & Joyce, ; Herrington & Roberts, ). Police officers, however, are not particularly apt at detecting individuals with intellectual disabilities (Gudjonsson, ; Parton, Day, & White, ). Furthermore, many intellectually disabled individuals develop strategies to disguise their cognitive and social limitations in trying to cope with the demand characteristics of their surroundings (Gudjonsson, ; Hayes, Shackell, Mottram, & Lancaster, ; Scheyett et al, ), making it even harder to notice their disability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The DSM‐5 (American Psychological Association, ) defines intellectual disability by an IQ lower than 70. However, people with an IQ between 70 and 85, a so‐called “borderline IQ,” possess cognitive and learning characteristics, which are comparable with those of people with an IQ between 50 and 70 (Parton et al, ; Roos, ). Hence, there is a fine line between people with a borderline IQ and people with more severe intellectual disabilities (Hayes et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Screening for intellectual disability in Dutch police suspects

Geijsen

Kop

Ruiter

2018

Journal Invest Psychology

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The screener for mild intellectual disability (SCIL) was developed to screen for mild intellectual disability (IQ below 85). The aims of this study were (a) to examine the predictive validity of the SCIL in screening for intellectual disability among police suspects and (b) to explore the prevalence of cognitive intellectual disability among suspects in police custody in the Netherlands. An unselected sample of police suspects (N = 178) charged with a variety of offences was assessed with the SCIL, aWechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)-III-NL short form, and a malingering measure. The SCIL screened 50.0% of the sample as having mild intellectual disabilities, whereas the short WAIS classified 84.3% of the sample with an IQ below 85. A principal component analysis of the SCIL showed ambiguous results. Furthermore, the short WAIS classified 55.6% of our sample with a borderline IQ (IQ = 70-84), 84.3% with an IQ below 85 and 28.7% with an IQ below 70. The prevalence of intellectual disability in this sample of Dutch (police) suspects appears to be higher than prevalence rates found in previous international studies. More exhaustive research is needed to examine the prevalence of intellectual disabilities in police suspects, and the utility of the SCIL to screen for these disabilities. KEYWORDS intellectual disabilities, police suspects, police custody, SCIL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. suspected of having seduced a 16-year-old girl to perform sexual acts in front of a webcam, but in the invitation letter, the police did not mention he was a suspect in a sexual offence case. The man came to the police station and agreed to participate in the interrogation voluntarily without being arrested. Early on, the young man stated that he received special education in the past and that he resided in an assisted living residence; yet despite this information, the police interrogators did not notify the man he could have access to a lawyer, and they proceeded to interrogate him about the alleged sexual offence. In the subsequent verdict, the court recognised that it had been obvious that the suspect was suffering from intellectual disability and that he was not able to oversee his situation and to determine his position during the police investigation; hence, the court blamed the police officers for not having informed the suspect he had access to a lawyer and ruled that his statement was deemed inadmissible because of violation of the principle of a fair trial (Arnhem Court, 2011).The above is an example of recent Dutch jurisprudence, which illustrates that it is important that police officers take certain vulnerabilities of suspects (e.g., intellectual disability)...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Screening for intellectual disability in Dutch police suspects

Geijsen

Kop

Ruiter

2018

Journal Invest Psychology

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“…Others have estimated the rate to be as low as 1.3% (Holland & Persson, 2007). In one of the few studies that has reported data on IQ in Australian prison populations, Parton, Day, and White (2004) determined that approximately 10% of 74 remand prisoners were in the mild intellectual disability range of IQ (IQ D 55À69), and just under one quarter were in the borderline intellectual disability range (IQ D 70À79). The most recent study conducted in Australia assessed the presence of intellectual disability in 1325 adult prisoners within 6 weeks of their release from seven prisons across Queensland over the period of 2008À2010 (Dias, Ware, Kinner, & Lennox, 2013).…”

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confidence: 99%

Looking for a Needle in the Haystack: Arsonists with Intellectual Disability in Australia

Curtis

Day

2014

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

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Arson attracts substantial penalties in Australia, reflecting the serious consequences of the crime. It is often asserted that people with intellectual disability are particularly likely to commit arson offences, and yet it is difficult to establish the prevalence in this population. This study sought to describe the characteristics of those people appearing in Australian Courts who have an intellectual disability and have been charged with arson. A search of the AustLII, LexisNexisAU and WestLawAU databases over the 10-year period from 2003 to 2013 identified 50 arson convictions reported in case law. Of these, six involved an offender with an identified intellectual disability. These offenders were likely to have committed other crimes at the time, or to have prior offences and were likely to receive longer sentences of imprisonment than their non-intellectually disabled counterparts. These findings are discussed in terms of the barriers that exist to understanding more about this underresearched population.

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Sentencing offenders with mental impairment: the case of arsonists with intellectual disability

Curtis

Day

2014

Journal of Intellectual Disabilities and Offending Behaviour

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2014),"Management of aggression care plans in a forensic intellectual disability service: a ten-year progress update", Journal of Intellectual Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, Vol. 5 Iss 2 pp. 88-96 http://dx.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) who commit arson and other acts of fire setting are over-represented in the criminal justice system in Australia, as in many other jurisdictions. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the judicial considerations that influence sentencing in these cases. Design/methodology/approach -Case law was utilised to locate and analyse judges' sentencing remarks for offenders with ID found guilty of an offence of arson. These data were subject to Inductive Content Analysis to establish the major judicial considerations in sentencing. Findings -Seven common issues emerged: general deterrence, seriousness of arson, rehabilitation, sentencing options, moral culpability, protection of the community, and punishment. Judges noted that they handed down reduced sentences to persons with ID relative to the severity of their offending, that they considered people with ID to have low levels of moral culpability, and that these offenders did not provide good examples for community deterrence. Originality/value -The current study highlights the need for judges to have available a range of sentencing options, including diversion and treatment/rehabilitation programmes for persons with ID, particularly for those involved in more serious offences such as arson.

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An Empirical Study on the Relationship Between Intellectual Ability and an Understanding of the Legal Process in Male Remand Prisoners

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Screening for intellectual disability in Dutch police suspects

Screening for intellectual disability in Dutch police suspects

Looking for a Needle in the Haystack: Arsonists with Intellectual Disability in Australia

Sentencing offenders with mental impairment: the case of arsonists with intellectual disability

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