This book reflects multidisciplinary and cross-jurisdictional analysis of issues surrounding Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and the criminal justice system, and the impact on Aboriginal children, young people, and their families. This book provides the first comprehensive and multidisciplinary account of FASD and its implications for the criminal justice system – from prevalence and diagnosis to sentencing and culturally secure training for custodial officers. Situated within a ‘decolonising’ approach, the authors explore the potential for increased diversion into Aboriginal community-managed, on-country programmes, enabled through innovation at the point of first contact with the police, and non-adversarial, needs-focussed courts. Bringing together advanced thinking in criminology, Aboriginal justice issues, law, paediatrics, social work, and Indigenous mental health and well-being, the book is grounded in research undertaken in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The authors argue for the radical recalibration of both theory and practice around diversion, intervention, and the role of courts to significantly lower rates of incarceration; that Aboriginal communities and families are best placed to construct the social and cultural scaffolding around vulnerable youth that could prevent damaging contact with the mainstream justice system; and that early diagnosis and assessment of FASD may make a crucial difference to the life chances of Aboriginal youth and their families. Exploring how, far from providing solutions to FASD, the mainstream criminal justice system increases the likelihood of adverse outcomes for children with FASD and their families, this innovative book will be of great value to researchers and students worldwide interested in criminal and social justice, criminology, youth justice, social work, and education.

This book reflects multidisciplinary and cross-jurisdictional analysis of issues surrounding Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and the criminal justice system, and the impact on Aboriginal children, young people, and their families. This book provides the first comprehensive and multidisciplinary account of FASD and its implications for the criminal justice system – from prevalence and diagnosis to sentencing and culturally secure training for custodial officers. Situated within a ‘decolonising’ approach, the authors explore the potential for increased diversion into Aboriginal community-managed, on-country programmes, enabled through innovation at the point of first contact with the police, and non-adversarial, needs-focussed courts. Bringing together advanced thinking in criminology, Aboriginal justice issues, law, paediatrics, social work, and Indigenous mental health and well-being, the book is grounded in research undertaken in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The authors argue for the radical recalibration of both theory and practice around diversion, intervention, and the role of courts to significantly lower rates of incarceration; that Aboriginal communities and families are best placed to construct the social and cultural scaffolding around vulnerable youth that could prevent damaging contact with the mainstream justice system; and that early diagnosis and assessment of FASD may make a crucial difference to the life chances of Aboriginal youth and their families. Exploring how, far from providing solutions to FASD, the mainstream criminal justice system increases the likelihood of adverse outcomes for children with FASD and their families, this innovative book will be of great value to researchers and students worldwide interested in criminal and social justice, criminology, youth justice, social work, and education.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) represent a range of physical, mental, and behavioral disabilities caused by alcohol use during pregnancy, or prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). FASDs are considered to be one of the leading causes of developmental disability, with an estimated 2-5% of children being born with FASD each year in the world. Despite its high prevalence, FASD is often misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed, making intervention more challenging. A multidisciplinary team of providers who understand the diagnostic requirements is crucial for an accurate FASD diagnosis. This text provides a comprehensive, state-of-the art review of this field, and serves as a valuable resource for clinicians and researchers with an interest in FASD. The book provides a detailed overview for clinicians of various backgrounds on the diagnostic process, extensive mechanistic and embryologic data, neuropsychologic aspects of the condition, prevention and treatment approaches, and the ethical, legal, and policy perspectives that impact patients and families. The chapters are organized parallel to the journey of individuals who experience alcohol-related conditions, beginning with the prenatal period addressing epidemiology of alcohol exposure, prevention and interventions, continuing through the fetal experience with a focus on embryology. Challenges of children and their families are considered next including the diagnostic process and health effects. Finally, issues related to systems of care for individuals with FASD and the broader community are addressed. The global context of FASD is presented throughout the textbook. Written by experts in the field, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders provides a concise yet comprehensive summary of the current status of this issue that helps guide prevention efforts, the diagnostic process, school and community interventions, and global policy efforts.

This thought-provoking book highlights the increasing recognition of the prevalence of neurodisability within criminal justice systems, discussing conditions including intellectual, cognitive and behavioural impairments, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and traumatic and acquired brain injury. International scholars and practitioners demonstrate the extent and complexity of the neurodisability experience and present practical solutions for criminal justice reform.

This volume focuses on topics at the intersection between neuroethics and neurodevelopment, and brings together the perspectives of experts in both clinical assessment and intervention, and researchers in child psychology, neurosciences, medicine, health policy, law, and social work. The goal is to review emerging issues related to the ethical ramifications of how variation in human neurodevelopment is described, and the effects of these descriptions on those with lived experience, clinical and intervention services, and health and social policy. Related topics are also explored including the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ethics of invasive neurotechnology interventions, biomarkers, machine learning, precision medicine. Provides novel and original research on the emerging field of the legal regulation of neuroscience Takes an interdisciplinary approach, with chapters by global scholars from several disciplines, including law, philosophy and medicine Develops a global approach that will be useful in jurisdictions around the globe

Offender profiling is an investigative tool used to narrow down the range of potential suspects for a crime by predicting the personality, behavioral, and demographic characteristics that an offender is likely to possess, based upon information collected at the crime scene. While offender profiling has been popularized by TV shows and movies such as Criminal Minds, Silence of the Lambs, and Mindhunter, the real-world impact of offender profiling is largely unknown. This book discusses the history of offender profiling, summarizes research on offender profiling methods, and reviews offender profiling evaluations of accuracy and applied impact. This book also describes a promising new offender profiling methodology called evidence-based offender profiling. This new method relies upon empirical data and scientific methods to develop, evaluate, and replicate offender profiles, thereby increasing offender profiling’s accuracy and utility for active police investigations. It uses prior information about statistical regularities between types of offenders and types of offenses to predict the characteristics of offenders in unsolved cases. A discussion of the future of offender profiling research and implications for law enforcement is also included. This book also explains how practitioners can benefit from the use of empirically tested and validated profiles in their unsolved investigations and how the use, continued research, and evaluation of evidence-based offender profiling can advance the quality, prestige, and utility of the field of offender profiling.

In Decolonizing Trauma Work, Renee Linklater explores healing and wellness in Indigenous communities on Turtle Island. Drawing on a decolonizing approach, which puts the “soul wound” of colonialism at the centre, Linklater engages ten Indigenous health care practitioners in a dialogue regarding Indigenous notions of wellness and wholistic health, critiques of psychiatry and psychiatric diagnoses, and Indigenous approaches to helping people through trauma, depression and experiences of parallel and multiple realities. Through stories and strategies that are grounded in Indigenous worldviews and embedded with cultural knowledge, Linklater offers purposeful and practical methods to help individuals and communities that have experienced trauma. Decolonizing Trauma Work, one of the first books of its kind, is a resource for education and training programs, health care practitioners, healing centres, clinical services and policy initiatives.