Crimes by people with learning disabilities may go unreported

FAMILIES and professionals dealing with people with learning disabilities are failing to report criminal acts by those in their care because of a lack of supports and services to deal with the problem.

A study by doctors in the Irish College of Psychiatrists found that 88% of carers believed there was a disinclination to report offences with typical comments noting “staff and family reluctant to report and gardaí reluctant to prosecute”.

The authors identified 431 people countrywide who had a learning disability and had committed an offence — ranging from indecent exposure to murder — but said under-reporting of offences, and the likelihood that some offenders have not had their disability assessed or recognised, means that this number could be conservative.

“The scale of this problem is difficult to estimate with accuracy,” they said. The study, entitled People with a learning disability who offend: forgiven but forgotten, was jointly carried by four doctors under the chairmanship of Dr Johnston Calvert, consultant psychiatrist with the Health Service Executive North East, in response to what they felt was a “significant unmet need in this area”.

The authors said the authorities had few options for how to deal with an offender who had a learning disability, tending to treat them the same as an offender with a mental illness, or not to give them any special treatment at all.

“Existing facilities are substantially general adult psychiatric services and do not offer the specialist facility for the assessment, care and treatment required by this specialist group,” the report states.

“In addition, those who are unfit to stand trial because of a learning disability are placed in the National Forensic Mental Health Service’s Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, rather than a learning disability service.”

The authors highlighted the vulnerability of such offenders, and the potential for miscarriages of justice.

“In Ireland the Garda Síochána are obliged in the first instance to offer a verbal caution followed by a complicated written procedure that many people with learning disability would not have the ability to comprehend.

“This practice of cautioning detained suspects by presenting a written notice to detained persons poses obvious problems to people with a learning disability as it has been shown to require a reading age above the ability of most people with a learning disability.

“The right to remain silent may not be understood by persons with a learning disability as this population has been shown to be extremely suggestible and their efforts to be helpful can lead to acquiescence and false confessions.”

Recommendations in the report, which is backed by British expert Dr Gregory O’Brien, call for the Health Service Executive to properly quantify the numbers of offenders in this category and make an immediate commitment to developing appropriate services for them.

The HSE is also urged to stop sending such individuals abroad for care and use the funds to create services at home instead.