Mass drug addiction, sex offenders and the `revolving door' take the attention of most people working in the criminal justice system. Responses to those concerns have been a full time challenge, all-engrossing and perhaps at a cost to other issues.
Invited to speak at a seminar recently, I found myself struggling and searching for theory, statistics or connections between learning disability and crime. Having worked in prisons and courts, my experience is that educationally offenders are very deprived.
Achievement in public exams is rare and basic literacy a common problem. But is this learning disability or is it educational disadvantage? Are both factors of influence on criminal offending?
In Children and Young People in Conflict with the Law, the editor refers to low intelligence as one among a constellation of risk factors in crime. Though low IQ is regarded as one of the factors leading to offending, IQ or educational attainment of most clients of the Irish criminal justice system remains an unknown. IQ or educational attainment is not recorded in the primary sources of Irish crime statistics. One has instead to generalise from snap-shots: insights provided by criminologist, Dr Paul O'Mahony's publications, the information provided in Probation and Welfare court reports detailing offenders' backgrounds, the hearsay of teachers in prisons and the results from a small number of offenders formally assessed in special schools.
Dr O'Mahony's Mountjoy Prisoners: A Sociological Profile demonstrated that the educational experience of his sample of prisoners was very limited. Eighty per cent of the prisoners had left school before the age of 16 years. Half of the sample had actually left school before 15 years, the minimum school leaving age.
Almost 5 per cent claimed to have never or very seldom attended school and a further 6 per cent had not attended school beyond the age of 10 years. This contrasts with the prisoners' social class peers. Over fifty-two per cent of the children of unskilled manual workers attain the Leaving Certificate standard. Only 16.2 per cent of unskilled manual workers' children leave school without any educational qualifications whatsoever.
A review of Probation and Welfare reports to courts would show that early school-leaving, no public exams taken and lack of basic numeracy and literacy characterise education for most offenders. Special class or special school is frequently referred to in probation reports, though generally without further explanation.
Prison education provides another snapshot. This is in general rather than specific terms. Irish prison teachers have used the rule of thumb "can't send a letter" to indicate serious difficulty in reading and writing. From that perspective they would say 15 per cent of adult prisoners can't complete that basic task and a massive 25 per cent of juvenile offenders. Prison becomes second chance education for many.
IRISH juvenile offenders fit the low IQ profile. Assessments at St Michael's Remand and Assessment Unit in Co Dublin - where 67 per cent of the juveniles are referred following criminal convictions - show that 25 per cent were assessed with current functioning at the borderline range, 52 per cent at mild mental handicap. Some 71 per cent of referrals for assessment were four-plus years delayed in reading, with 18.5 per cent at three-plus years delay.
Statistical information on IQ and reading ages of the girls at Oberstown Girls Centre, also in Co Dublin, shows that in terms of chronological age in relation to reading age, over 30 per cent of the girls were four-plus years behind and fewer than 20 per cent were at or over par. On IQ levels, 22 per cent could be categorised in the mild mental handicap, 33 per cent in the borderline range.
An unpublished thesis of Brid Bates, Aspects of Childhood Deviancy: A Study of Young Offenders in Open Centres in the Republic of Ireland, provides a profile of young people in care in open centres where some 61.5 per cent were committed for breaches of the law; the remainder were in for reasons of "school attendance", health board referrals or voluntary admissions.
This shows that only 11 per cent had a reading age appropriate to their chronological age. Approximately 28 per cent were up to two years below the norm, while 61 per cent were more than two years below the expected norm. In spelling ages more than 80 per cent scored more than two years below the norm.
Almost three-quarters of the subjects were more than two years behind in mathematical attainment. It also indicates a generally depressed level of cognitive ability and functioning. Only 29 per cent had an average full scale IQ, while 55.4 per cent had IQ scores in the borderline or mild mental handicap range.
People fail to learn for many different reasons. One can attribute relatively few of these failures to learning disability, per se, and relatively more to educational disadvantage. Educational disadvantage is a well documented problem than can be tackled. Specifically we need to address three areas: increase resources to disadvantaged schools; expand the school psychological service and grow our special education provision. Educational disadvantage, as it currently stands, can fairly be described as criminogenic. Further progress in these areas will pay rich dividends, not least in crime.
Patrick O'Dea, PRO, Probation, Welfare Branch, IMPACT.
