FACTORS PREDISPOSING TO SUSPECTED OFFENDING BY ADULTS WITH SELF-REPORTED LEARNING-DISABILITIES

Background. This study investigated factors contributing to suspected offending behaviour by adults with a history of learning disabilities taken into custody at a city police station. Methods. Adults charged w ith offences, and/or leaving custody, during a defined period, were id entified as having a possible learning disability using a four-item qu estionnaire (Lyall ct nl. 1995a). A comparison group, of similar age, sex and IQ, was identified from a database of young people with learni ng difficulties. Information was obtained on interview about each indi vidual's medical, psychiatric, social and family histories and psychol ogical assessments were undertaken. Results. In contrast to the compar ison group, those in the 'offending' group were more likely to have a history of the following: losing contact with their father, forensic c ontact in one or more family members, past homelessness, illicit drug use, experiencing an excess of recent life events, self-reported behav ioural problems at school, truancy, childhood police contact and conta ct with probation services. All had histories of repeated offending. T here was also an increased rate of drug/alcohol dependence. Only two s ubjects in the study group had a full-scale IQ below 70. Conclusions. These differences would suggest that the presence of childhood behavio ural problems, offending behaviour by other family members, family sep aration and other social disruption and the development of drug and al cohol related problems are potentially the most important factors in t rying to understand why one group engaged in criminal behaviour. The o ffending group had many characteristics in common with general offendi ng populations.