Justice and Corrections

People with disabilities, particularly a cognitive or psychosocial disability, are overrepresented in the criminal justice system in Australia—comprising around 18 percent of the country’s population, but almost 50 percent of people entering prison.[1]

One study found that 82% of adult male prisoners reported at least one past brain injury of any severity and were more likely to report persisting side-effects and to screen positive for impulsivity and dissocial personality disorder than those surveyed from the wider community.[2] Another found that individuals between the age of 0 and 21 years, who had a medically verified occurrence of brain injury which required hospitalisation[3], were at increased risk of arrest, predominantly for either violent or property offences.

Brain injury can impact on people’s ability to:

• Remember information
• Regulate emotions
• Control impulses
• Concentrate
• Understand the impact of their behaviour on others
• Think and learn.

Within the criminal justice system, this has significant consequences when it comes to challenging behaviours during incarceration and the potential for recidivism. It also raises issues around prisoner health and the lack of treatment available: brain injury and its related disabilities currently receive relatively little recognition in the criminal justice system.

This issue is compounded for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, who are not only over-represented in the criminal justice system, but also experience 2-3 times higher rates of brain injury than the wider Australian population.

In order to better respond to the psychological and physical needs of people in contact with the criminal justice system, and break cycles of re-offending, the system must recognise and respond to the congruence of brain injury and criminal offending.

At a practical level, that means:

• Developing intake processes which uniformly screen for cognitive impairment.
• Enabling the delivery of treatments and therapies within the prison environment.
• Developing brain injury appropriate discharge processes which support successful transition back into the community.
• Improving education for professionals in law and criminal justice on the indicators and consequences of brain injury.