Neuro... What?

For too long the criminal justice system has been ignoring a glaring and inconvenient truth. A significant proportion of people in prison and on probation are neurodiverse. In far greater numbers than the general public, people inside the criminal justice system live with autism, ADHD, speech/communication disorders, intellectual disabilities, learning disorders, neurogenetic disorders like Down Syndrome, traumatic brain injuries… it’s a broad church.
We know what it’s like to be neurodiverse and to be locked up in prison. We’ve led ground breaking consultations for the Prison, Probation and Police Inspectorates and for NHS England. Since 2020 we have engaged nearly 500 people like us.
Their stories make for uncomfortable, even harrowing reading. Utter incomprehension, shame, an inability to read forms let alone fill them in, communication hurdles with defending lawyers, assumptions of rudeness by judges and dismissal of any suggestion that neural health may be a mitigating circumstance, inability to remember appointments, frustration, anger, confusion… the neurodiverse simply cannot play the game. So, they lose it. No one knows this better than the police. They are, after all, our default mental health service, called in to exercise force in medical situations they are ill-equipped to understand. Situations which never should have arisen. Because, although the prison and probation services shine a light on neurodiversity, this isn’t really a criminal justice issue. It’s a public health issue. If there was recognition and support for these conditions then the link between neurodiversity and crime could be broken. But these people are too often ignored – until we punish them for offending.
Neurodiversity is a massive public health issue which must be addressed. It cannot be swept under the prison door any longer. Through a public information campaign we are going to bring this to light.