FASD and Crime - the MCJA Crime Prevention Breakfast

Thursday morning this week, I attended the Manitoba Criminal Justice Association's Breakfast on FASD and Crime Prevention.  Speakers were Dr. Albert Chudley, an expert on FASD and Judge Marie Kate Harvie who has been dealing with offenders with FASD who come before the courts.

Dr. Chudley emphasized the fact that up to 17% of people in Manitoba's Stony Mountain Institution have FASD, and a larger proportion (70%) have some sort of brain or mental health condition.  Offenders who come before the courts can now, when referred, be assessed for FASD.  So far, of 133 offenders who have been assessed, 94 have been diagnosed with some form of FASD.  Sadly, the program has a long waiting time and 377 individuals of the 510 who have been referred have not yet been assessed.

For those who have been assessed, it can make a significant difference in using programming which recognizes the FASD and reduces subsequent delinquency.  For example, one of the problems with children with FASD is that a high proportion drop out of school [65% of children with FASD coming before the Youth Justice Assessment were not attending school http://www.ihe.ca/documents/026-Harvie.pdf ]
Following the identification that a child has FASD, the school learning program can be adapted, and the problems that a child with FASD has in getting into trouble can be addressed so further involvement with the criminal justice system is reduced.

A high proportion of the youth with FASD who get involved with the Criminal Justice System get involved with gangs (65%), and this may be because youth with FASD tend to be easily led and influenced.  Addressing FASD in a much better way can result in fewer youth getting involved with gangs and decrease gang problems as well as decreasing crime.

For many years, I have been pushing for better understanding of FASD and better approaches to preventing FASD and to helping those with FASD as a way of improving our society and reducing crime.  Some small steps are now happening, but we need to do much more in this area to prevent FASD in the first place, as well as to be able to do assessments quickly in order to help those with FASD so that they have better opportunities than getting into crime and gangs.   For more on this subject see my blog on
Gerard Allard and his efforts in this area. http://manitobaliberals.blogspot.com/2011/07/gerard-allard-liberal-candidate-in-st.html