Critical Reflections on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the Criminal Justice System: Swedish Female Ex‐Offenders’ Narratives of Diagnosis

Abstract

Recent years have seen an emerging link between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and criminal behaviour. Sweden is a leader in this field of research, and high levels of ADHD are reported in the Swedish criminal justice system. The aetiology of the condition, however, remains unclear and there is definite ambivalence in the literature regarding both diagnosis and treatments. Offering a unique qualitative perspective on the role of ADHD diagnoses, this article critically explores female first‐hand narratives of ADHD in the Swedish criminal justice system. A number of diagnostic functions are proposed; (i) on the individual level – via a rationalised explanatory framework of behaviour; (ii) on a societal level – with attention effectively being deflected from social and environmental contexts; (iii) on an institutional level – linked to the medicalised management of offender populations, and lastly; (iv) on a broader market level – including huge pharmaceutical interests in a relentlessly expanding ‘treatment’ market.

Me too! A case study of gendered victimization and feminist development in a Swedish peer support organization for people with experiences of criminalization and substance abuse

“…Feminist criminologists have shown the extent to which gender matters in the lives of women with experiences of criminalization and substance abuse, not least in relation to the high exposure to violence and sexual victimization ( 34 ). Desistance research centering the lived experience of female offenders has further revealed how lingering consequences of prior victimization from violence may restrict women’s routes out of crime ( 35 , 36 ). Gender blindness thus risks obscuring the various ways in which structural inequalities affect women’s lived experiences of criminalization and substance abuse, as well as their processes of desistance.…”

“…These women’s drug use is often seen as causing the violence ( 67 ). Women who engage in criminal behavior or who use drugs risk being treated as doubly deviant for breaking the law as well as the conventional norms of femininity ( 36 , 68 , 69 ).…”