Defendants with intellectual disability and autism spectrum conditions: the perspective of clinicians working across three jurisdictions.

The treatment of vulnerable defendants by criminal justice systems or correctional systems varies within and between countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine three legal jurisdictions - New South Wales in Australia; Norway; England and Wales - to understand the extent of variation in practice within the court systems for defendants with intellectual disabilities (ID) and/or autism spectrum conditions (ASC). Two of the jurisdictions had a process for screening in place, either in police custody or at court, but this was not universally implemented across each jurisdiction.

Treatment outcomes from forensic intellectual disability services: The perspectives of patients and their family/carers.

Introduction: Research investigating the treatment outcomes of forensic intellectual and developmental disability (FIDD) services has largely focused on the perspectives of clinicians and researchers. This study sought the perspectives of patients and family/carers on the outcomes important to them.

Methods: Semi-structured consultation groups were conducted with patients in FIDD services ( = 21) and family carers ( = 6).

A systematic review and synthesis of outcome domains for use within forensic services for people with intellectual disabilities.

Background: There is limited empirical information on service-level outcome domains and indicators for the large number of people with intellectual disabilities being treated in forensic psychiatric hospitals.

Aims: This study identified and developed the domains that should be used to measure treatment outcomes for this population.

Method: A systematic review of the literature highlighted 60 studies which met eligibility criteria; they were synthesised using content analysis.

Longitudinal HCR-20 scores in a high-secure psychiatric hospital.

Background: The HCR-20 is a widely used 20 item structured professional judgement aid to risk assessment and management, but longitudinal studies of its value are rare, particularly with people at high risk of reoffending.

Aims: To investigate whether the HCR-20 discriminates between patient subgroups in one high-security hospital in England, whether scores reduce with hospital treatment and whether lower scores predict discharge.

Methods: Repeated HCR-20 ratings were made by clinical teams across five services within the hospital, two of them (women and men with intellectual disability) national services.

Structural, item, and test generalizability of the psychopathy checklist--revised to offenders with intellectual disabilities.

The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the most widely used measure of psychopathy in forensic clinical practice, but the generalizability of the measure to offenders with intellectual disabilities (ID) has not been clearly established. This study examined the structural equivalence and scalar equivalence of the PCL-R in a sample of 185 male offenders with ID in forensic mental health settings, as compared with a sample of 1,212 male prisoners without ID. Three models of the PCL-R's factor structure were evaluated with confirmatory factor analysis.

Predictive validity of the PCL-R for offenders with intellectual disability in a high security hospital: treatment progress.

Background: Among mainstream offenders, the severe personality disorder of psychopathy has considerable importance as a construct. The disorder has long been associated with failure to make treatment progress. Previous work has identified that psychopathy as a disorder occurs in samples of offenders with intellectual disability (ID), and suggests that the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R: Hare, 1991, 2003) as a measure of the disorder has adequate reliability and validity (Morrissey et al.