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No one knows, offenders with learning disabilities and learning difficulties
- Author:
- TALBOT Jenny
- Journal article citation:
- Tizard Learning Disability Review, 14(1), February 2009, pp.18-26.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
There is a lack of clarity about the prevalence of offenders with learning disabilities and learning difficulties. However, it is clear is that, regardless of actual numbers, many offenders have learning disabilities and learning difficulties that interfere with their ability to cope within the criminal justice system. No One Knows is a UK-wide programme led by the Prison Reform Trust that aims to effect change by exploring and publicising the experiences of people with learning disabilities and learning difficulties who come into contact with the criminal justice system. The article highlights the aims of the No One Knows programme and considers recent research on prevalence, the views of prison staff on how prisoners with learning disabilities of difficulties were identified and their needs met, and draws attention to some of the reasons for the different findings.
No One Knows: offenders with learning difficulties and learning disabilities
- Authors:
- TALBOT Jenny, RILEY Chris
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 35(3), September 2007, pp.154-161.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The prevalence of offenders with learning difficulties and learning disabilities is not agreed upon. What is clear, however, is that, regardless of actual numbers, many offenders have learning difficulties that reduce their ability to cope within the criminal justice system, for example, not understanding fully what is happening to them in court or being unable to access various aspects of the prison regime, including some offending behaviour programmes. Offenders with learning difficulties are not routinely identified and, as a result, often do not receive the support they need. No One Knows is a UK wide programme led by the Prison Reform Trust that aims to effect change by exploring and publicizing the experiences of people with learning difficulties who come into contact with the criminal justice system. The article highlights the aims of No One Knows and describes what, for the purpose of the programme, we mean by ‘learning difficulties and learning disabilities’. Problems in identifying precise numbers of offenders with learning difficulties and learning disabilities are discussed and attention drawn to recent research on prevalence. The context and some of the challenges of ‘prison life’ are identified and a number of early research findings from No One Knows are presented.
Adult defendants with learning disabilities and the criminal courts
- Authors:
- TALBOT Jenny, JACOBSON Jenny
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Learning Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, 1(2), July 2010, pp.16-26.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Following on the Prison Reform Trust’s ‘No One Knows’ programme (2006-2009) briefing papers were published (Appendix 1). This paper acknowledges that 5-10% of offenders in the UK are people with learning disabilities (LD) and have few provisions made to ensure that they understand and can participate effectively in the criminal justice proceedings of which they are a part. These authors advise that if people with LD cannot participate effectively, prosecution is often deemed inappropriate and they may be diverted from criminal justice into health care. This article defines the legal framework in terms of the ‘fitness to plead’, ‘right to a fair trial’, ‘Disability Discrimination Act 2005’ and the inclusion agenda. It also details defendants’ own accounts of court experiences. The article then describes measures, such as liaison and diversion schemes, which could be put into place to support and maximise defendants’ changes of participating effectively in the law courts. A final section entitled ‘court disposals’ deals with outcomes is terms of diversion away from the criminal justice system, using the Mental Health Act 1983, as amended in 2007. These authors claim, in terms of statutory provision, a lack of parity between vulnerable witnesses and vulnerable defendants, and in the absence of effective screening procedures to identify defendants’ LDs, support needs often go unrecognised and unmet.
Prisoners' voices: experiences of the criminal justice system by prisoners with learning disabilities and difficulties
- Author:
- TALBOT Jenny
- Publisher:
- Prison Reform Trust
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 102p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
For the past three years No One Knows has been researching people with learning disabilities and learning difficulties who enter the criminal justice system in the UK, their experiences as they travel through it and in particular the effect their impairments have on their ability to cope with the criminal justice process. This study hears directly from prisoners themselves. The report is in four parts: part one describes the aims of the study and the methods used. Prisoners were identified by prison staff and 173 agreed to be interviewed, screening results suggested that 34 prisoners had possible learning or borderline learning disabilities. A further 73 prisoners were identified as also likely to experience difficulties with verbal comprehension. Part two of the report tells of prisoners’ experiences of the criminal justice system, their lives immediately before they were arrested and aspirations for the future. Part three discusses five overarching themes from the three year No One Knows programme: disability discrimination and possible human rights abuses; knowing who has learning disabilities or difficulties; implications for the criminal justice system; a needs led approach: collaborative multi-agency working; and workforce development. Part four draws on the full three year No One Knows programme to make recommendations for change.
Getting healthcare, housing support, and community care set up for prisoners who will need it on release
- Authors:
- EDGAR Kimmett, RICKFORD Dora, TALBOT Jenny
- Journal article citation:
- Prison Service Journal, 179, September 2008, pp.16-19.
- Publisher:
- Her Majesty's Prison Service of England and Wales
Prisoners with mental health problems or learning disabilities are more likely to re-offend, or to be abused or exploited by others, if they do not get an aftercare package of health, housing and community care services. This article highlights the legislation and policies that oblige local authorities to assess the needs of vulnerable people, prior to release from prison.