ABSTRACT
The adolescent with learning disability or autism faces the same myriad challenges and tasks as do all young people, but does not share in the general intellectual and social capacities required for resolution of these complex matters. Without the ability to understand, communicate and consider their situation, antisocial and disturbed behaviour is common in young people with these disabilities. In this chapter we consider the factors which predispose adolescents with learning disability and autism to offending, and the extent to which offending behaviour in these groups has a distinct profile. We suggest some pointers towards the basis of a coherent service response. It is emphasized that the same issues which are relevant to the offending behaviour of adolescents in general, as reviewed elsewhere in this volume, apply to some extent to adolescents with learning disability and autism.
