Patterns of offending among people with intellectual disability: a systematic review. Part II: predisposing factors

In the present study, the second part of a review of offending by adults with intellectual disability (ID), data on predisposing factors are presented and there is a discussion of the overall conclusions. The available data are shown to be problematic in a number of respects: there is no offence-specific data; and a number of dimensions are under-explored, specifically race, class and subjective accounts of offenders. Age and gender were the most highly correlated factors, as they are with offenders generally; however, there does appear to be evidence that the average age of offenders with ID is higher than for other offenders. The present authors note with concern the inattention to mainstream criminological research, and a tendency to downplay the extent to which an 'offender' is the outcome of complex and multifarious social processes. The authors also argue that the literature is dominated by unsubstantiated assumptions regarding the direction which policy and practice should take.