“…the Australian Government and the Council of Australian Governments, through the Community and Disability Services Ministers’ Conference … [should] engage in an urgent program of legislative and policy reform alongside service development to ensure that offenders with an ABI have access to programs of diversion and offender rehabilitation “on an equal basis with others.”Nick Rushworth, Executive Officer, Brain Injury AustraliaDownload BIA’s policy paper.
Fact Sheet: Acquired Brain Injury and the Criminal Justice System
“Available empirical evidence suggests that damage to the front and sides of the brain is associated with an increase in the potential for aggressive, violent and criminal behaviour.”
Fact Sheet: The Connection Between Acquired Brain Injury and Homelessness
“An acquired brain injury can exacerbate and magnify the risk factors associated with homelessness including family breakdown, loss of social support networks, lack of affordable housing, family violence, unemployment, illness, drug and alcohol use, violence and/or criminal behaviour.”
Fact Sheet: Brain injury and Homelessness – Statistics
“The 1999 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW study) on “The definition, incidence and prevalence of Acquired Brain Injury in Australia” estimated that there were 338,700 Australians who had a disability related to Acquired Brain Injury. Of these, 160,000 were severely or profoundly affected by Acquired Brain Injury thus needing daily support.”
People with Acquired Brain Injury and the Criminal Justice System – Monash University’s Criminology Speaker Series (2016)
- “While problems people may experience with thinking and behavior as a result of their ABI place them at the highest risk of re-offending and re-incarceration, this form of disability receives low recognition throughout the criminal justice system.”
Out of Sight, Out of Mind: People with an Acquired Brain Injury and the Criminal Justice System – 13th International Criminal Law Congress (2012)
“…Low socioeconomic status, low education, male sex [sic], and propensity to engage in risky behaviour also characterize people both at risk of TBI and at risk of behaviour leading to incarceration and could confound the association between TBI and incarceration.”
Brain Injury and the Criminal Justice System Workshop Report (2016)
- “It is anticipated that this Report will … lead to best practice and a justice system that responds appropriately and humanely to those with brain injury across all levels of the justice system ranging from the police who often have first contact with this group to those who enter the nation’s correctional facilities.”
Download the Workshop Final Agenda.
Prisoners Living with Acquired Brain Injury – ABC Radio Law Report (2016)
“Hear first hand experiences from former prisoners living with ABI. They are part of a project advocating for people Acquired Brain Injuries, a group who are massively over-represented in the criminal justice system.”
Share this Post