As many as one in four prisoners in Britain could have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a report published by the charity, ADHD Foundation last month. The group argues ADHD is ‘critically under-diagnosed’ and, if managed properly, could lead to a reduction in criminality of 32% for men and 41% for women. The research is the latest in a series of studies drawing attention to how little understood, in terms of implications for the criminal justice system (CJS), are the conditions that fall under the broad umbrella of ‘neurodiversity’.
A major study by three criminal justice inspectorates published last year estimated that as many as half of all people going into prison could be neurodivergent. ‘We were struck by the number of times the word “difficult” was used in evidence,’ wrote Charlie Taylor, Justin Russell and Sir Thomas Winsor, chief inspectors of prisons, probation and constabulary respectively. They went on to reflect: ‘It would perhaps be more useful to reflect on
