Identification and support of autistic individuals within the UK Criminal Justice System: a practical approach based upon professional consensus with input from lived experience.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (hereafter referred to as autism) is characterised by difficulties with (i) social communication, social interaction, and (ii) restricted and repetitive interests and behaviours. Estimates of autism prevalence within the criminal justice system (CJS) vary considerably, but there is evidence to suggest that the condition can be missed or misidentified within this population. Autism has implications for an individual's journey through the CJS, from police questioning and engagement in court proceedings through to risk assessment, formulation, therapeutic approaches, engagement with support services, and long-term social and legal outcomes.

Exploring the similarities and differences amongst service users with and without learning disabilities attending Saint Marys Sexual Assault Referral Centre.

Background: People with learning disabilities are over-represented amongst Sexual Assault Referral Centre service users. This work aims to explore the similarities and differences between service users with and without learning disabilities.

Method: Medical notes of 52 service users likely to have a learning disability were compared with 52 service users not likely to have a learning disability (according to the Learning Disability Screening Questionnaire); all of whom attended Saint Marys SARC for a forensic medical examination during a 12-month period.

The high prevalence of pre-existing mental health complaints in clients attending Saint Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre: Implications for initial management and engagement with the Independent Sexual Violence Advisor service at the centre.

Background: The Saint Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre has a unique service delivery model whereby it provides an integrated physical and psychological support services to clients, women men and children, living in Greater Manchester. The service is available to those who have reported rape or sexual assault, whether this is recent or historic. Clients living in surrounding areas of Cheshire are provided with forensic and medical services at Saint Mary's Centre, with follow-up care provided locally, as appropriate.

Drawing the answers: Sketching to support free and probed recall by child witnesses and victims with autism spectrum disorder.

The success of witness interviews in the criminal justice system depends on the accuracy of information obtained, which is a function of both amount and quality of information. Attempts to enhance witness retrieval such as mental reinstatement of context have been designed with typically developed adults in mind. In this article, the relative benefits of mental and sketch reinstatement mnemonics are explored with both typically developing children and children with autism.

No Evidence Against Sketch Reinstatement of Context, Verbal Labels or the Use of Registered Intermediaries for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Response to Henry et al. (2017).

Recently, Henry et al. (J Autism Dev Disord 8:2348-2362, 2017) found no evidence for the use of Verbal Labels, Sketch Reinstatement of Context and Registered Intermediaries by forensic practitioners when interviewing children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. We consider their claims, noting the limited ecological validity of the experimental paradigm, the impacts of repeated interviewing where retrieval support is not provided at first retrieval, question the interviewer/intermediary training and their population relevant experience, and comment on the suppression of population variances.

Gender Differences in Psychosocial Predictors of Attitudes Toward Reporting Child Sexual Abuse in the United Kingdom.

There is a dearth of research investigating psychosocial correlates of attitudes toward reporting child sexual abuse in males and females and a lack of such studies drawing on participants from the United Kingdom. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to examine gender differences in social and psychological predictors of attitudes toward reporting child sexual abuse. Participants drawn from the United Kingdom general population were recruited via an opportunistic sampling method.

Sketching to remember: episodic free recall task support for child witnesses and victims with autism spectrum disorder.

Deficits in episodic free-recall memory performance have been reported in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet best practice dictates that child witness/victim interviews commence with a free-recall account. No 'tools' exist to support children with ASD to freely recall episodic information. Here, the efficacy of a novel retrieval technique, Sketch reinstatement of context (Sketch-RC), is compared with mental reinstatement of context and a no support control.