A descriptive study of sex offending among incarcerated men with low intellectual functioning: offending parameters and sex offence characteristics in adulthood

ABSTRACT

The current study investigated patterns in youth and adult criminal histories of perpetrators of sex offences who are identified as having low intellectual functioning. Using administrative information from a larger study on mental health disorders and cognitive disability in the criminal justice system, official criminal history data were obtained for 31 participants functioning in the intellectual disability (ID) range and 13 functioning within the borderline intellectual disability (BID) range who had perpetrated at least one sexual offence in adulthood. The results showed that, overall, offending patterns in adolescence and adulthood between the two groups were characterised by more similarities than differences, with the exception of violent offending; offenders with ID who committed sex offences in adulthood were more likely to have histories of violence, and further, were also more likely to use violence in the context of their sexual offences. The findings are discussed in the context of disability support for adult perpetrators of sexual offences involved in the criminal justice system who have low intellectual functioning.

KEYWORDS:

• borderline intellectual disability
• intellectual disability
• sex offenders

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Ulrika Athanassiou http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9214-1665

Jesse Cale http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9529-8545

Leanne Dowse http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8673-2912

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage grant [LP0669246] and a UNSW School of Social Sciences publication support grant.