Exploring offending characteristics of young people with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Western Australia

Grace Kuen Yee Tan; Carmela F Pestell; James Fitzpatrick; Donna Cross; Isabelle Adams; Martyn Symons

doi:10.1080/13218719.2022.2059028

Exploring offending characteristics of young people with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Western Australia

Psychiatr Psychol Law. 2022 Jun 13;30(4):514-535. doi: 10.1080/13218719.2022.2059028. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Grace Kuen Yee Tan^{1

2

3}, Carmela F Pestell¹, James Fitzpatrick^{1

2}, Donna Cross^{1

3}, Isabelle Adams^{1

2}, Martyn Symons^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia (UWA), Perth, WA, Australia.
² Patches Australia, Nedlands, WA, Australia.
³ Telethon Kids Institute (TKI), Nedlands, WA, Australia.
⁴ Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.

Abstract

Neurodevelopmental impairments resulting from Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) can increase the likelihood of justice system involvement. This study compared offence characteristics in young people with FASD to demographically matched controls (n = 500) in Western Australia. A novel approach (i.e. association rule mining) was adopted to uncover relationships between personal attributes and offence characteristics. For FASD participants (n = 100), file records were reviewed retrospectively. Mean age of the total sample was 15.60 years (range = 10-24), with 82% males and 88% Australian Aboriginal. After controlling for demographic factors, regression analyses showed FASD participants were more likely than controls to be charged with reckless driving (odds ratio, OR = 4.20), breach of bail/community orders (OR = 3.19), property damage (OR = 1.84), and disorderly behaviour (OR = 1.54). Overall, our findings suggest justice-involved individuals with FASD have unique offending profiles. These results have implications for sentencing, diversionary/crime prevention programs and interventions.

Keywords: association rule mining; diversionary programmes; foetal alcohol spectrum disorder; interventions; justice system; offending behaviour.

Grants and funding

Donna Cross’s contributions to this paper were supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Research Fellowship (GNT 1119339). There was no external funding to support this research paper.