Traumatic brain injury in young people in custody: Implications for community and educational inclusion

Abstract

Aims:The aim of this narrative review is to explore the distinctive needs of young people in custody with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and the implications for rehabilitation, education, and community inclusion. Some research suggests a higher prevalence of TBI in the youth custodial population (Farrer et al., 2013; Hughes et al., 2015). TBI can result in neurocognitive and behavioural difficulties (Pavlovic et al., 2019) and has been associated with aggressive offending behaviour (Silver & Nedelec, 2020).Methods:The author conducted a multi-database search to find extant studies pertinent to identifying the distinctive needs of young people in custody with TBI. Studies were included in the review if they met the inclusion criteria and their findings were deemed highly relevant to Educational Psychology practice.Findings:After critically analysing the included studies, the findings support the hypothesis that a subset of young offenders in custody who have experienced TBI have distinctive needs.Conclusions and Limitations:The review concludes by discussing the implications for local authority services and makes recommendations for Educational Psychology practice. The author also discusses the limitations of this review, relating to inconsistencies in the literature, and limitations inherent to narrative review methodologies.