Risk factors for recidivism in offenders with intellectual disabilities

The literature on risk factors for recidivism in offenders with intellectual disability (ID) is inconsistent and inconclusive compared to the field of mainstream criminality where the predictive efficacy of social psychological and criminological factors is well established (Gendreau, Little & Goggin, Criminology, 34, 575 607, 1996). Criminological variables have also been reported to have superior predictive efficacy over clinical variables in a large meta-analysis of recidivism in other mentally disordered offenders (Bonta, Law, & Hanson, Psychological Bulletin, 123, 123 142, 1998). The current study replicated this finding in a sample of offenders with ID (n 145) discharged from four independent sector medium secure units in the UK between 1990 and 2001. Over a two-year follow-up period criminal history variables were significantly related to general recidivism. A subsequent analysis found the Offender Group Re-conviction Scale, a criminogenic risk assessment instrument designed for use in general offenders, to have excellent predictive efficacy in offenders with ID.