Criminal Justice Sector Development ProjectImpact Report: July 2010 - June 2013

Staff in criminal justice agencies and the emergency services can identify autistic traits and adjust their behaviour and communication accordingly.

Autism is recorded as a category on key data systems used by criminal justice agencies to enable professionals to identify vulnerable individuals.

Suitable support services and information resources are available for people with autism to prevent them becoming involved in the criminal justice system.

Why is the project needed?The invisibility of autism and the social naivety of people with the condition make them extremely vulnerable to:

Their vulnerability is intensified in emergency situations. Evidence suggests that young people with autism are seven times more likely than the average person to come into contact with the criminal justice system . Examples of how this contact can produce negative results have been evidenced by the recent media scrutiny given to the Metropolitan Police and Merseyside Police regarding their mistreatment of people with autism.

Some criminal justice agencies have made progress by training their staff to understand more about autism, however there is still a lot of work to be done. Currently the lack of knowledge about autism within the police, Crown Prosecution Service, courts, magistrates and judiciary mean that the system is heavily weighted against a positive outcome for a potential suspected offender or victim with autism.

Our experience tells us that this type of situation could be prevented if:

Abuse

Disability Hate Crime

Exploitation

Being misunderstood and therefore

sometimes dealt with inappropriately

by professionals

So what do we do about these issues?Our Criminal Justice Development Coordinator, Nigel Archer, works to prevent, reduce and improve interactions between people with autism and the criminal justice system. He has done this by:

Advising the Department of Health National Autism Lead regarding issues within the CJS.

Providing the majority of the evidence for ‘Adults with Autism and the CJS’; a Birmingham City Council Scrutiny Board Report.

Writing a number of articles for both CJS and autism specific publications.

Training many organisations based on his experience in the CJS.

Advising the West Midlands Ambulance Service with regard to the provision of simple tools for implementation in their call centres, Patient Advice services and technicians quick referral packages.

Working with local experts in Restorative Justice to develop autism appropriate methods and tools to enable out of court disposal methods to be considered.

Presenting relevant information to parent and carer support groups and at national events such as The Good Autism Practice annual conference.

Supporting individuals, their families and CJS professionals in cases where there have been problems, such as unnecessary arrest or failures in making reasonable adjustment etc.

Who is Nigel Archer?Nigel has been delivering the Autism West Midlands Criminal Justice System project since 2010.

Nigel is a national expert in the field of autism and the criminal justice sector and specialises in training. He advises the Department of Health and the National Autism Programme Board. He worked for West Mercia police for many years as an Inspector and as a trainer. He also has an adult son with Asperger Syndrome.

This combination of professional and personal experience has meant that Nigel has rapidly become the leading national figure in the delivery of autism awareness training to organisations from across the criminal justice sector. He is a trained Restorative Justice practitioner, having been trained in its use with offenders by one of the original creators of it for the police in New South Wales, Australia. Nigel works with our Family Support Services delivering advice and guidance to parents around preventing young people becoming involved in crime either as victims or perpetrators.

He also supports families in specific cases where a child or young person has become involved in the CJS either as a victim or a perpetrator, providing specialist autism advice to the family, the individual and to the professionals involved in the case.

Who in the CJS now knows about autism because of our project?Nigel has delivered training to the following organisations:

Scotland Yard’s National e-crime Unit An organisation who deal with online offending such as hacking (e.g. Gary McKinnon case)

The Serious Organised Crime Agency’s Internet Crime Unit An organisation that address radicalisation issues for people with autism

Approximately 100 staff from the Metropolitan Police Child Abuse and Murder Teams

The following police forces had a number of trainers trained in a package which they have been or are still delivering to operational staff:

West MerciaWarwickshire CheshireBritish Transport Police (nationally).West Midlands Greater Manchester

The Diversity Leads from each of the Metropolitan Police Borough Command Units with a view to potentially then delivering training more widely in their force as with the above forces

Approximately 500 staff in Staffordshire & West Midlands Probation Trust

Police officers and representatives of other organisations from the National Working Group on Child Sexual Exploitation

Warwickshire Probation Trust

The Birmingham Integrated Offender Management Team

Approximately 100 staff from Stoke on Trent YOS

Warwickshire Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangement (MAPPA) Staff

Representatives from all Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangement teams for the greater West Midlands region

Birmingham City Youth Offending Service

A leading firm of Defence Solicitors have had solicitors trained from their offices in Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester, London in order that they can better represent autism clients

120 staff and volunteers from West Mercia Victim Support

Training provided through a series of regional events in Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Cardiff and Birmingham to Her Majesty’s Court staff.

In August 2011 a young man with Asperger Syndrome was arrested and placed in a cell for 24 hours. During this time he was stripped and interviewed without any representative present, despite the fact his mother had previously advised the police to contact her if they were ever to come into contact with him. This did not happen and she was only made aware of the incident the following day when police made contact with her to arrange a bail address. After this she had to continuously fight for the correct representation for her son, even having to gain assistance from the CMHT as police would not take direction directly from her, as well as having to advise solicitors and the probation service of his condition and how it may impede their discussions with him. When the case went to court her son was given a suspended sentence, allowing him to continue his life and keep his flat which gives him much needed independence. Throughout the whole process she was taking guidance from the Autism West Midlands downloads available to her and states that ‘there is no doubt in my mind the way your downloads helped in such a simple and effective way’.

In 2011 Greg*, a young man with Asperger syndrome was subjected to a violent attack whilst walking home from the pub. His attackers stamped on the head repeatedly before making off with his mobile phone and his wallet. Greg carries an Autism West Midlands ‘Attention Card’ in his wallet. The card is designed for individuals to produce in stressful or emergency situations. It tells the professional dealing with them that they have autism and gives them the contact details of a trusted person for them to contact for support. Deprived of his attention card which had been in his wallet, Greg was found unconscious and taken to hospital. Upon waking up in hospital he experienced a meltdown due to the sensory overload of being injured, waking up in a strange place with unfamiliar people. He repeatedly told staff he was autistic and needed to go home. When they failed to communicate effectively with him, he become extremely anxious and started shouting. Police were called and Greg was forcibly restrained, handcuffed and had leg restraints put on him. He was changed with two offences of assaulting a police officer only hours after being the victim of a violent assault. Following advice from Autism West Midlands, a solicitor with autism knowledge was found and a forensic psychiatric report prepared. At court, the Crown Prosecution Service was advised by the judge to “offer no evidence” or face an allegation of abuse of process. As a result, the trial did not proceed and additional stress was not placed on Greg, who was badly affected by the incident. As a result of this case, and others, a helpsheet for A&E staff has been developed and this has been downloaded more than 200 times.

Case studies

Comments from the Probation Service

How good are we at training the criminal justice system in autism awareness?

Magistrates really need this training!

It was really accessible and very relevant to Probation work. It made me realise the whole way we work can be quite autism-unfriendly.

An excellent, informative training event which would be useful to any members of probation staff

Comments from Police

Very well delivered. Extremely useful for police officers and staff in an area that isn't completely understood

We will definitely roll this out to front line staff as a training package

Excellent use of appropriate and timely video clips. Nigel Archer is one of the best presenters I have seen

Comments from the Youth Offending Service

The training delivered as part of this project has received vast amounts of positive feedback and has helped the project in achieving its aims.

Long overdue. Well worth the time and effort and should be repeated

Trainer was very knowledgeable giving both personal insight and knowledge of autism. Very informative and able to use this in practice

This was one of the most informative training courses I have attended. Thank you

There is no doubt in my mind the way your downloads helped in such a simple and effective way, especially to someone living in such a large and rural county who may not be able to have access to help available in the bigger cities

Feedback from families

and those with autism

A mother whose child got involved with the CJS and used the downloads from Autism West Midlands to help guide her through the process

What do we do to help people with autism who find themselves in an emergency situation on their own?

The Attention Card allows members of the emergency services and other professionals to identify an individual with an Autism Spectrum Condition and to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ when dealing with people with autism

Advice & GuidanceNumerous other autism charities have received advice and guidance from us and instigated their own Attention/Alert cards with the same requirements for maintaining a database and insisting on information about where, when and by whom diagnosed. These cards are created in conjunction with their local police forces so that they can check back to ensure the person genuinely does have autism

3950 Attention Cards had been distributed by the end of May 2013.

2011 In 2011 posters about Attention Cards were distributed in every police station, Crown Prosecution Service office, Probation Office and Youth Offending Service office in the West Midlands, Warwickshire, West Mercia and Staffordshire

I just wanted to say that I found the training yesterday to be extremely informative and interesting. I have had the opportunity to use some if the techniques suggested yesterday, in a joint PSR assessment conducted this afternoon. The feedback I received from the occupational therapist that I did the assessment with, was that I elicited a lot of information from an offender/patient whose presentation is usually very non-communicative. I will continue to use the techniques and strategies as appropriate and share them with probation colleagues

Sent via email to the trainer from a probation officer from Wolverhampton Criminal Justice Mental Health Liaison Team

100%of participants stated that the course met their expectations

66%saying that it exceeded their expectations

Feedback that Nigel receives from training

The Criminal Justice Development Coordinator has launched a survey of the police forces we have trained during the project.

from a training session Nigel delivered to a Youth Offending Team

Some of the initial responses include:

52.9%of cases where the person with autism was an offender ‘no further action’ was taken against them due, in part, to recognition of the impact of their autism on their behaviours. A fact which prior to our training provision would likely to have been unrecognised

86.9%of respondents felt that the training had proved useful in dealing with a person with autism and enabled them to adjust their methods for the bene�t of all parties

100%

91%

of participants rated the trainer as good or above

rating him as excellent100%

of participants rated the content of the course as useful or above

88%them rating it as very useful

Looking to the futureAs a result of this project we are now advising local and national organisations, such as the Department for Health, regarding CJS issues. In the next twelve months we hope, amongst other things, to encourage prisons to train their staff in autism awareness, to produce articles for publication regarding people with autism and the criminal justice system, and to continue delivering high quality bespoke training to staff from across police, probation trusts, youth offending teams, courts, and others organisations.

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Our vision is a world where all people on the autism spectrum have the specialist care and support they need to lead fulfilling and rewarding lives. Registered Charity Number: 517077Registered Company Number: 1953344 (England and Wales)

About Autism West MidlandsThere are more than half a million people in the UK living with autism, an invisible, misunderstood and lonely disability. 60,000 live in the West Midlands.

We are the leading charity in the West Midlands for people affected by autism. We exist to enable all people with autism and those who love and care for them to lead fulfilling and rewarding lives.

Our passionate, expert staff and volunteers work across all age groups and abilities, providing direct support to people affected by autism.

Contact usAutism West MidlandsRegent CourtGeorge RoadEdgbastonBirminghamB15 1NU

Email: hello@autismwestmidlands.org.ukTelephone: 0121 450 7582 Information helpline: 03 03 03 00 111

Website: www.autismwestmidlands.org.uk