Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in a female prison sample with violent crime and reoffending, psychological and neurobehavioural functioning, and performance on neuropsychological tests. Design: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a female prison in the UK and used a between-participants design to compare a TBI group with a no-TBI group across a range of measures including violent crime, number of times in prison, scores on standardised clinical questionnaires, and scores on performance-based cognitive assessments. In-depth interviews were used to elicit incidence of TBI and forensic history, with forensic information cross-checked against the prison database. Participants: Participants were 56 female inmates admitted to the prison between September 2014 and May 2015. 29 reported TBI and 27 reported no TBI. Results: Those in the TBI group were more likely to be convicted for a violent offence, had committed a greater number and a greater proportion of violent offences, had been to prison a greater number of times, and reported greater psychological and neurobehavioural difficulties. No difference was found between groups in terms of neuropsychological-test performance. Conclusions: The findings suggest that TBI may be a significant risk factor for violent crime and re-offending, and that TBI is associated with a range of psychological and neurobehavioural difficulties in this population. This highlights the need for the routine screening of TBI in prisons alongside interventions that mitigate the attendant psychological and neurobehavioural difficulties.