Disabled and Disempowered: Administrative data studies on the criminalisation of, and rehabilitative outcomes for, people with neurodisability

Abstract

Purpose. People with neurodisability are over-represented in the criminal justice system and have chronically poor mental health and rehabilitation outcomes. This thesis examines the intersectional experience of people with neurodisability who come into contact with the law, to understand how to promote better outcomes and prevent contact with the criminal justice system upstream. This thesis presents four research papers, three of which have been published at the time of submission. All papers use administrative data, and treat neurodisability as a transdiagnostic construct, using functional screening tools rather than diagnostic thresholds. Paper 1 used administrative screening data relating to 665 adult male prisoners from the DoIT profiler. Prisoners with neurodisability were more vulnerable to suicidality and self-harm. Prisons should therefore screen for neurodisability, as these prisoners are particularly vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes and may require adaptations to make existing mental health interventions more accessible. Paper 2 utilised an updated tranche of the DoIT profiler data to compare prisoners who were Looked After Children (n= 631) to prisoners who were never Looked After Children (n= 2,201). Prisoners who were Looked After Children had higher levels of neurodisability, alongside other psychosocial difficulties including homelessness, unemployment, and substance use problems. This indicates the complex disadvantage that characterises the lives of prisoners who were Looked After Children, identifying them as a priority target group for intervention. Paper 3 utilised DoIT profiler data from 3,035 prisoners, to examine ‘school to prison pipelines’ for prisoners with neurodisability. Prisoners who were excluded from school were more likely to have had their first justice system contact at a younger age, and prisoners with neurodisability were more likely to have been excluded from school. These findings indicate that school exclusion could be a mechanism contributing to the criminalisation of children with neurodisability.Paper 4 utilised an administrative data linkage between the Department for Education and the Ministry of Justice to examine a prospective cohort of half a million children. Poverty and neurodevelopmental delay in children aged 4/5 interacted to confer synergistic risk of justice system contact before the age of 16. This indicates a ‘double disadvantage’ for these children, which should be addressed by public health approaches to reduce the number of children living in absolute poverty as well as improving Special Educational Needs support for children with neurodisability in schools. Conclusions. This body of work contributes to evidence that people with neurodisability who end up in contact with the criminal justice system have lives characterised by intersectional disempowerment. These findings can be understood through the lens of the social model of disability and have implications for public health approaches to crime reduction. In addition, these four papers illustrate the value of administrative data for understanding the criminalisation of people with neurodisability.