People with an intellectual disability are almost three times more likely than those without a disability to be victims of physical assault, sexual assault and robbery. The study reported here found that intellectually disabled people who had become victims of crime scored significantly below the intellectually disabled nonvictims on measures of interpersonal competence. The study found that having a disability was not the main problem, but rather how people behaved and how that behaviour might promote a reaction from an offender. The one characteristic that stood out was the demonstration of anger.
The policy response can be found in training in relation to interpersonal competence and anger management. The Australian Institute of Criminology has a strong interest in identifying factors which precipitate anger and aggression, and making them part of broad crime prevention strategies.
This paper is taken from the report of research undertaken with the assistance of a grant from the Criminology Research Council.