Around one in ten inmates in Norwegian prisons are mentally retarded, a new study shows. They may end up being regulars, says the researcher behind the study.
Essentially, the prisoners have not been officially diagnosed but they meet the criteria, shows a study by researcher Erik Søndenaa at the centre for security , prisons and forensic psychiatry (Sifer) . The people in the study have an average IQ of between 55 and 75, whereas the average Norwegian IQ is around 100, he writes in Vårt Land.
– People with an IQ of 75 has a maturity age of thirteen years. Those with an IQ of 56 has the maturity of an eight- to ten year old, says the researcher to fontene.no, who first mentioned the study .
Søndenå says that they are good at hiding their problems because they do not want assistance, and they may end as regulars because they get stuck in an unfortunate pattern.
Director Rita Bråten in the Norwegian Prison and Probation Officers’ Union says they cannot diagnose people with such disorders and thus the inmates do not get the support they need.
-We do not have health science in our training, so we are not qualified to discover such problems, she says.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
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