7.6 A comparative analysis of criminogenic profiles of offenders with complex needs

A masters thesis submitted in 2012 by Intan Bailey under the supervision of Assoc Prof Leanne Dowse and Prof Alex Blaszczynski (University of Sydney) “On the borderline:

A comparative analysis of the criminogenic profiles of offenders functioning in either the intellectual disability or borderline intellectual disability range, and those with ‘complex needs’”. The thesis utilised analysis of the MHDCD Dataset, in particular the Level of Service Risk Inventory-Revised profiles of a selected sub-group of those with ID and BID in the cohort to determine whether the current practice of disability services within NSW of distinguishing offenders with intellectual disability from offenders with borderline intellectual disability, in order to determine post-release service allocation, is empirically justified. A further aim was to ascertain the extent to which the criminogenic profiles of offenders with ID and offenders with BID may vary depending on the presence of mental health disorders and/or substance abuse problems. The study found that offenders with ID and BID share the same medium-high risk of re-offending with those with BID having significantly more order breaches. The two most important influences on recidivism for both study groups were found to be education/employment and alcohol and/or other drug use. The findings of the study suggest that the current categorisation of offenders functioning in the ID or BID ranges as two separate groups for the purposes of service allocation are not empirically justified and that offenders with BID, a group largely characterised by complex support needs remain under-recognised, vulnerable and marginalised.