Perceptions of Learning Disabilities in the Criminal Justice System

该项目将调查一般公众和刑事司法系统（CJS）内部如何看待学习障碍（LD）个体的特征。此外，该项目将调查是否有一个人的行为依赖于他们被诊断为LD类型的看法之间的差异（例如，自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）和注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）之间的差异）-这将解决当前文献中的空白，该文献通常不区分不同的LD。联合王国采用陪审团制度，公众被随机挑选为陪审团成员。如果公众有负面的看法或无法识别LD的行为，这可能会导致不公平的判刑长度。在整个CJS中，对个人行为的感知将影响他们如何与他们互动以及他们未来的治疗。例如，如果监管人员没有被告知潜在的LD，由于缺乏LD培训，他们可能会将这些特征误诊为心理健康问题。因此，个人可能会得到无效和潜在的破坏性支持。本项目旨在调查公众对LD个人的看法，他们识别LD之间差异的能力，以及这些看法在CJS更广泛的背景下的后果，特别是与LD个人的欺骗印象有关。

This project will investigate how the characteristics of learning disabled (LD) individuals are perceived by the general public and within the Criminal Justice System (CJS). Additionally, this project will investigate whether there are differences between the perceptions of an individual's behaviour dependent on the type of LD they are diagnosed with (e.g., differences between Autism Spectrum Disorder - ASD and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - ADHD) - this will address a gap in the current literature, which does not normally distinguish between different LDs. Within the UK a jury system is used whereby the general public are randomly selected to be members of a jury. If the general public has negative perceptions or is unable to identify LD behaviour this could result in unjust sentencing lengths.This project has critical implications for the CJS. Throughout the CJS the perception of an individual's behaviour will affect how they are interacted with and their future treatment. For example, if a custody officer was not informed of a potential LD it is likely they will misdiagnose the traits as being a mental health issue due to a lack of training on LD. As a result, the individual will likely receive ineffective and potentially damaging support. This project aims to investigate the public perception of LD individuals, their ability to identify differences between LDs and the consequences of these perceptions in the wider context of the CJS, particularly in relation to the impression of deceit from the LD individual.