Brain injury and offender populations
This is a hugely important issue and it is worth noting that the research in no way indicates that brain injury leads to criminal behaviour. Rather, there could be numerous environmental factors which could lead to both brain injury and crime. Also, in those more susceptible to becoming involved in crime, increased impulsivity, anger and reduced inhibition could lead to greater levels of reoffending.
Headway's long-time friends and collaborators at the University of Exeter's School of Psychology have published two recent papers showing much higher rates of head injuries in both adult and young offenders, compared to the general population.
Professor Huw Williams, who led the research, emphasised the important implications of the findings for the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders.
"This research suggests that it would be important to account for traumatic brain injury in the assessment and management of offenders," said Huw. "It may be that offenders with TBI have greater difficulty changing behaviour patterns. Taking account of head injury could reduce repeat offending in those affected.
"Screening specifically for TBI could be included in the health assessments of offenders may help identify those affected to allow for more appropriate management of their needs."
03 March 2011
In this recent study, researchers in Australia assessed the reliability of self-reporting research by comparing prisoners' self-reported history of TBI associated with details extracted from relevant hospital medical records
03 March 2011
Analyses were conducted to calculate the prevalence of TBI and the effects of gender, offender type, and definition and method of identifying TBI
03 March 2011
Researchers in this study pooled reported frequencies of lifetime traumatic brain injury of any severity among prisoner samples and compared the pooled frequency to estimates of the lifetime prevalence of traumatic brain injury in the general population
03 March 2011
Determining the rate of self-reported TBI in a male, adolescent youth offending population and exploring whether TBI was associated with number of convictions, violent offending, mental health problems and drug misuse
03 March 2011
In this study, the researchers at the University of Exeter aimed to establish the rate of TBI of various severities in a representative sample of adult offenders and patterns of custody associated with TBI