ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to examine the relationship between intellectual disability and punishment, primarily though not exclusively in the United Kingdom (UK), with a historical frame of reference, and in terms of the implications for this population in contemporary society. The chapter begins by looking at how offending behaviour has been associated with intelligence, particularly the notion of intelligence quotient (IQ), and the consequences in terms of the institutional movement over the course of the twentieth century. The role of language, such as moral defective and degeneracy, is drawn upon to demonstrate how the societal response of segregation and incarceration was legitimised, a punitive response to having a low IQ, below 70, rather than offending behaviour. The focus of the chapter then changes to examine community care as policy, essentially since the 1980s, which coincided with the development of fairly comprehensive secure services, low, medium and high, specialising in caring for people with intellectual disabilities, yet within a mental health framework. The chapter analyses how the relationship between intellectual disability and crime was subject to a changed lens during the 1990s, the idealism of community care much diminished, and a greater emphasis emerged on punishment responses identifying this population as a discrete group. The chapter ends with an examination of current concerns, from diversion from prison following over-representation in this context, critique of the risk framework, and understanding intellectual disability in terms of complexity, such as in association with personal history, issues of substance misuse, and with additional concerns around personality disorder and autistic spectrum disorder.
