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Abstract
Background Little research has been carried out on empathy and theory of mind in offenders with intellectual disability (ID) and these concepts are often poorly defined.
Method Various models of empathy and theory of mind are discussed and scores on 2 empathy and 3 theory of mind tasks are compared for 25 offenders with ID and 25 non‐offenders with ID (all male).
Results Differences were found in empathy and theory of mind performance of offenders and non‐offenders with ID. Offenders performed better than non‐offenders on a second order theory of mind task and on emotion recognition. They required fewer prompts to mention emotions, and gave empathic/caring responses more often than non‐offenders when observing happiness (but not sadness or anger).
Conclusions Results suggest that offenders with ID may have better, rather than poorer, empathy and theory of mind abilities than non‐offenders, and that empathy training is therefore not indicated for this group.
Notes
1. Due to the nature of the criminal justice system, offenders with ID are likely to be incarcerated outside the normal prison system and without a formal conviction. Not all residents in these environments have committed criminal offences, which is why the stated check was carried out. This should result in a group that approximates as closely as possible an offender group with ID, comparable to convicted offenders without ID.