Cambridge Scholars Publishing

ADHD-- Selected Crime & Prison Issues

​ADHD and Offending (July 2021)

Affiliations
1Psychology Services Limited, London, PO 1735, Croydon, C9 7AE, UK. 
2Department of Psychology, Reykjavik University, Reykjavík, Iceland. 
3Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Abstract

Objectives:  International studies have reported disproportionately higher rates of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) among youth and adult offenders across police custody, prison, probation and forensic mental health settings, estimated to fall at around 25%.

This review aimed to investigate the presentation and vulnerabilities of this subpopulation of people with ADHD compared to those with ADHD in the general population and consider how this may impact on the approach to assessment and treatment in this population.

Methodology: A selective review of the extant literature was conducted to investigate how offenders with ADHD may present differently from their non-ADHD peers in their clinical presentation, criminogenic behaviour and psychological vulnerabilities.

Results: Nearly all (around 96%) offenders with ADHD have additional comorbid problems, including mood, anxiety, conduct, substance use and personality disorders.

Compared with offenders without ADHD, they become involved in the criminal justice system (CJS) at a younger age, have higher rates of recidivism, are more likely to make a false confession, engage in behavioural disturbances in custody, have health risk behaviours and a lower quality of life.

​Assessing and treating ADHD in this subpopulation may be more complex due to their presentation.

Conclusions: Offenders with ADHD are disadvantaged within the system by their ADHD symptoms being unrecognised and/or misunderstood; their diagnosis of ADHD may be missed or misdiagnosed.

This is at cost to the individual, from both a health and rehabilitative perspective, as well as more broadly to society.

If He Outgrew it --
What is he doing In My Prison

"If your ADHD is so disabling that you
 have found yourself living in  a remote
walled  prison of over 1,000 men, then it is unlikely that you  will  progress  toward  rehabilitation without the aid of medication.  Stimulant  medicine  can greatly enhance  the ability to learn how to develop caution and  judgment, and to learn a job  skill."

". . . Over half of these recall being told they
would not need treatment beyond the teens as they would outgrow their ADD. None whom we have worked with were treated into their twenties.18% had discovered that crystal meth on the street would give them focus and a sense of calmness. 20% found solace from the feeling of “being a meathead”, “still being the retard kid” by seeking oblivion with marijuana and heroin."
This could hardly be  more ironic-- the quote above came from a 1998 article we found  on Canadian Adult ADHD Coach Pete Quily's  excellent ADHD/ADD website -- 

Direct Link: 

http://adultaddstrengths.com/2008/11/18/if-he-outgrew-it-what-is-he-doing-in-my-prison/

And the Author is -- Drum Roll please ---

T. Dwaine  McCallon,  M.D.                
Medical Director, Buena Vista Correctional Facility,
Asst. Chief Medical  Officer, Colorado Dept. of Corrections
(of course, this was in 1998)
   




For even greater irony, see at the bottom of this page a link to Judge R. Brooke Jackson's  2012 Order out of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado involving a man in DOC custody with alleged ADHD , allegedly in need of ADHD stimulant medication. 

Judge Jackson finding for plaintiff against the Colorado Department of Corrections, held that:      
"[T]he possibility that he might abuse any particular medication may not trump a decision regarding care he needs based on medical judgment."
See Page 40 of Judge Jackson's Order


Plaintiff was represented by the Law firm of Fox & Robertson, now the non-profit Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center  (see links at the bottom of this page)

The Need for Assessment of ADHD in the Criminal Justice System
Susan J Young,Imperial College London | Imperial · Centre for Mental Health

Gisli Hannes Gudjonsson
King's College London | KCL · Department of Psychology​

"There is an urgent need for ADHD screening of
suspects detained at police stations and those
remanded in custody and sentenced to prison.

"The greatest challenge is probably for manage-
ment in institutional settings to accept that spe-
cific treatments (both pharmacological and
psychological) are necessary to help individuals
control their ADHD symptoms and improve
their pro-social competence – unless this hap-
pens, nothing will change in the long term."

Orchid:  We would generally view any lack of "pro-social competence" as a product of a very complicated biological system.

Part of that is recognizing the tremendous strengths of individuals with ADHD (and everybody), spend 80% of the time in strengths, and 20% on workarounds for weaknesses as recommended in Dr. Gail Saltz' book "The Power of Different:  The Link Between Disorder & Genius."

A focus on deficits is often doomed to fail.

​How Much Does Undiagnosed & Untreated ADHD Cost The Criminal Justice System -- by MHS Assessments
(almost an hour long video)

Executive Functions and Emotionality in ADHD


​ADHD Research, Original Thinking 
& Legal News                                         

Adults with ADHD commit fewer crimes when on medication  (Karolinska Institutet, Nov. 2012 -- Sweden)

http://news.cision.com/karolinska-institutet/r/adults-with-adhd-commit-fewer-crimes-when-on-medication,c9336692


Smoking and ADHD Risk Are Influenced by the Very Same Gene (Healthline, Oct 29, 2012)

http://www.healthline.com/health-blogs/study-roundup/smoking-adhd-genes-102912


Advocating for ADHD in the Department of Corrections (Attention Deficit Disorder Association)

http://www.add.org/page/dept_of_correction

Freedom Friday: Rejection-sensitive dysphoria and ADHD (Freedom Resource Center)

http://www.freedomrc.org/2013/05/10/freedhttp://www.healthline.com/health-blogs/study-roundup/smoking-adhd-genes-102912om-friday-rejectionsensitive-dysphoria-adhd/

2012 U.S. District Court of the District of Colorado Order finding in favor of person with alleged ADHD in custody of Colorado Department of Corrections to have physician take fresh look at plaintiff's medication and treatment needs.

Further, the Court ordered that the possibility plaintiff might abuse any particular medication may not trump a decision concerning care he needs based on medical judgment.

The plaintiff was represented by former Denver law firm Fox & Robertson which is now the non-profit Civil Rights and Enforcement and Education Center (CREEC)

www.foxrob.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/anderson.pdf
http://creeclaw.org/