NAPD - Dyslexia: Criminal Justice, Forensic Mental Health, and Legal Implications

Dyslexia is defined by the International Dyslexia Association as a neurological learning disability characterized by poor spelling and word recognition abilities. Consequences of these deficits often include secondary reading problems such as poor reading comprehension. A harmful domino effect can be traced from dyslexia to learning difficulties in school and several adverse outcomes across the lifespan. These adverse outcomes include criminal justice-involvement, as research reports that people entangled in the criminal justice system may be disproportionately likely to present with undiagnosed dyslexia. Although not a causal risk factor for criminal behavior, dyslexia may amplify the risk of criminal justice-involvement when co-occurring with other established risk factors (e.g., impulsive control issues, poor verbal skills, low self-esteem, social skill limitations, early language problems, and cognitive problem-solving). Intended for professionals working in criminal justice, forensic mental health, and legal settings, this innovative training provides attendees with a comprehensive overview of dyslexia, its potential causes, clinical features, and red flag indicators. Nuanced discussions of potential opportunities for prevention, management, and intervention will also be discussed. For instance, high quality academic and reading interventions could play a key role in reducing the rates of delinquency and recidivism among justice-involved populations. The principal goals of this training are to encourage the (a) routine screening of dyslexia and (b) adoption of dyslexia-informed practices and policies in criminal justice, forensic mental health, and legal systems. Empirically based research findings will be highlighted throughout this training.This training will examine various memory phenomena that can cause false narrative creation and its implications within criminal justice, forensic mental health, and legal settings. In particular, three types of memory phenomena will be the main focus of this training: suggestibility, confabulation, and source misattribution. Suggestibility is a person’s predisposition to accepting inaccurate information as fact and incorporating this into memories of an event. In contrast, confabulation occurs when a person creates a new inaccurate memory of an event. Despite no deliberate intention to lie or deceive others, instances of suggestibility and confabulation can undermine everything from assessment and treatment to confessions and eyewitness testimony. For example, false information provided by a person during screening and assessment can contribute to missed or misdiagnoses, which contributes to inappropriate and ineffective treatment and intervention plans. Alternatively, false information provided during police interviews and interrogations, or legal proceedings can result in false confessions, inaccurate eyewitness testimony, and wrongful convictions. Complicating matters, common techniques used during police questioning and cross-examinations like repetitive questioning and negative feedback only exacerbate the risk of these phenomena within forensic mental health and legal settings. The seriousness of these memory phenomena within criminal justice, forensic mental health, and legal settings warrants training in this area.

Additional information and online registration.