Europe UK (Commonwealth Union) – In a recent study consisting of young male offenders across Scotland it was noticed that 80 percent demonstrated a history of significant head injuries where most had faced repeated head injuries.
The study appeared in PLOS ONE, which was led by researchers from the University of Glasgow which put a spotlight on the effects of head injuries on male offenders in Scotland.
In order to conduct the study, researchers enlisted 103 juvenile males (34% of the total sample of 305) from HM Young Offenders Institution Polmont, the national facility in Scotland for young individuals aged between 16 and 21. Among these participants, a total of 82 young men (80%) had a history of significant head injury, with 69 of them (two-thirds of the overall study participants) experiencing repeated head injuries over extended periods. The main causes of these significant head injuries in young male offenders were predominantly fighting and assault.
The study revealed that while poor mental health and issues related to substance use were prevalent among young male offenders as a whole, a noteworthy association was observed between a history of severe head injury and certain mental health problems, with anxiety and distress in particular.
Furthermore, there was additional evidence suggesting that young offenders with significant head injuries exhibited poorer behavior control and were more frequently reported for prison incidents compared to those without such injuries. These findings, combined with the higher levels of psychological distress, indicate that young males with significant head injury might be at a heightened risk of becoming lifelong offenders, as per the researchers’ interpretation.
University of Glasgow’s, Professor Tom McMillan, who is the lead author of the study says “Our study reveals important new information on both the prevalence and the impacts of significant head injury in young male offenders in Scotland. Until now a limited understanding of this area has made it difficult for prisons to develop effective management and intervention strategies to help improve these young people’s health and reduce the chances of reoffending.”
