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Violence and offending in people with learning disabilities

Community Resource Team for People with a Learning Disability, 1st Floor, The Rutson, High Street, Northallerton, North Yorkshire DL7 8EN, UK. E-mail: Thomas.Marshall{at}hrpct.nhs.uk

I found Reed et al’s (2004) study fascinating, as it demonstrates the apparently random nature of a forensic label in our patients. It is clearly not to do with risk. I am confused by some of the results. The whole gist of the argument is that the offender group is less violent than their non-offender counterparts. However, it is stated that in the offender group the challenging behaviour diminishes from 0.79 incidents per week to 0.36 and that for the non-offender group from 0.23 to 0.11. This is challenging behaviour generally but this suggests that those in the offender group exhibit greater challenging behaviour throughout their stay than those in the non-offender group. Table 2 states the opposite. I would be interested to see how this inconsistency can be explained.

REFERENCES

Reed, S., Russell, A., Xenitidis, K., et al (2004) People with learning disabilities in a low secure in-patient unit: comparison of offenders and non-offenders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 185, 499 -504.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Authors’ reply

Maudsley Centre for Behavioural Disorders, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and Institute of Psychiatry, London. E-mail: S.Reed{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk

We would like to point out that we do not maintain that those in the offender group are less violent than their non-offender counterparts. Rather, we conclude that, as stated in the Results section, people in the offender group were significantly more likely to display some types of challenging behaviour but significantly less likely to display others. The results showing a reduction in the frequency of challenging behaviour during admission measured the change in rate of challenging behaviour per person per week by comparing a 4-week baseline period with the last 4 weeks of admission. Thus, these figures do not show the level of challenging behaviour exhibited in each group throughout their stay. The fact that there was no significant between-group difference in the rate of total incidents of challenging behaviour per month is shown correctly in Table 2. We thank Dr Marshall for giving us the opportunity to clarify this point.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Marshall, T. Articles by Russell, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Marshall, T. Articles by Russell, A.