Criminology Research Council grant ; (16/94-5 & 41/92-3)
The general objective of this project was to validate a relationship between personal vulnerability to criminal victimisation and specific interpersonal competencies. This aim was derived from earlier research which found that people with an intellectual disability were not only disproportionately at risk of victimisation but also that the rate of victimisation among this group was dependent on characteristics of the victims that reflected their interpersonal competence.
This research found that people with an intellectual disability display levels of interpersonal competence that are significantly lower than those found for normal children at the same mental age. In one sense this is an optimistic finding, in so far as it attests to the sound development of sensible social competence in children by this age. However, the poorer performance of persons with an intellectual disability is therefore not the consequence of developmental delay but constitutes an integral aspect of the intellectual disability. In other words, their interpersonal skills lag significantly behind what would be predicted by their IQ scores. Among people with an intellectual disability, however, IQ does not predict victimisation and the critical aspect of lower interpersonal competence which can precipitate victimisation is defined in terms of uncontrolled antisocial, maladaptive behaviours. Victims show high levels of hostility and aggression when confronted with potentially threatening situations, that non victims do not show.
A clear policy implication from this work is that future planning about how best to deal with the vulnerability for victimisation of people with an intellectual disability requires consideration of the contribution of victim variables as well as characteristics of offenders.