The Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorate has urged the Government to develop more coordinated and effective support for autistic people in the criminal justice system (CJS) in England and Wales. Their report, out today, echoes our own research and is long overdue recognition of the hidden challenges autistic people can face if they come into contact with the system – from police to courts, prison and probation. The Government must act on these findings.

The Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland commissioned the Joint Inspectorate (Prison, Probation, Police, Fire and Rescue) to carry out this review of the experiences of people who are neurodivergent in the criminal justice system. Their definition of neurodivergence includes autism, learning disabilities, learning difficulties, developmental language disorders, tic disorders and cognitive impairments due to acquired brain injury. 

The recommendations

The inspectorates made a number of important recommendations:

• Ministry of Justice to work with the Home Office, Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Education and the Welsh Government to develop a national strategy to improve outcomes for autistic people and other neurodivergent people. The strategy should be developed with neurodivergent people.
• Introduction of a universal screening tool with information sharing agreements between agencies. 
• Better data collection and examination to better understand and plan for the numbers of autistic people and other neurodivergent people in the system.
• A programme of training delivered to staff working in the system, developed and delivered with neurodivergent people.
• Changes to the physical environment, procedure and communication should be made to meet the needs of autistic people and other neurodivergent people.
• The final recommendation is for criminal justice agencies to work with other statutory bodies and the charities to understand and meet the needs of autistic people and other neurodivergent people in their communities to prevent offending and support rehabilitation.

Why is this review important?

Autistic people and their families have told us for years about shocking experiences they have had in the criminal justice system. And we know staff working in the sector feel angry and frustrated by a lack of training in this area too. The system clearly doesn’t work as it should and is letting down autistic people.

Yet, there are areas of good practice: police forces, probation services and prisons working incredibly hard to make significant improvements and changes for autistic people. Some of these services have worked with our charity to achieve Autism Accreditation. The problem is that these are currently the exception, when this should be happening everywhere. We want all autistic people to have their needs identified and met by staff who understand them. And we want the Ministry of Justice to deliver on its own equality, diversity and inclusion objective: ‘Fair treatment, fair outcomes and equal access for all our service users’. 

We support the Inspectorates’ call on the Ministry of Justice to provide an action plan on how they will achieve these recommendations within three months.  

Clare Hughes, Criminal Justice Manager at the National Autistic Society, said: “This is long overdue recognition of the hidden challenges autistic people can face in the criminal justice system. The Government must act on these findings.

“There are around 700,000 autistic people in the UK, and the vast majority won’t come into contact with the system. But those who do can have incredibly traumatic experiences, particularly if they’re undiagnosed, misunderstood or their support needs go unrecognised and unmet.

“The inspectorates correctly set out what needs to change: there needs to be better understanding of autism and support for autistic people in every part of the system. And staff need to be supported to make this happen. At the same time, the right early support must be available to stop people getting into dangerous situations in the first place, including mental health support to help autistic people to navigate what can feel like a chaotic and overwhelming world.

“Autistic people in the justice system must not be forgotten.” 

Further reading

• Read the full Criminal Justice Joint Inspection report: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/cjji/media/press-releases/2021/07/neurodiversity-in-criminal-justice-system-more-effective-support-needed-say-inspectorates/ 
• Read our guidance on criminal justice, for autistic people, families and professionals working in the system: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/criminal-justice/criminal-justice
• Find out about Autism Accreditation and our work with prisons and probation services: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/accreditation-prison 
• Find out about our online criminal justice conference on 23 September:  https://www.autism.org.uk/criminaljusticeconference
• Take our survey about young autistic people’s experiences or worries about being involved in the criminal justice system: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/YJgeneral/