Doing Something Positive: Developments in Western Australia (From Intellectually Disabled Offenders, P 129-139, 1987, Dennis Challinger, ed. -- See NCJ-109708)

• NCJ Number: 109719
• Author(s): G Jones
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology; National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: For microfiche, see NCJ-109708.

Annotation

This paper describes services for intellectually disabled (ID) offenders in Western Australia, with particular attention to a segregated community-based program designed to promote prosocial behavior that supplants violent behavior.

Abstract

The Authority for Intellectually Handicapped Persons (Irrabeena) was established in 1985 in Western Australia as the State service for ID persons. Irrabeena develops and implements policies for the provision of services and the advancement of welfare for ID persons. Irrabeena's philosophy is to promote the independence, self-determination, and overall normalization of ID persons. Irrabeena is particularly interested in the appropriate management of ID offenders. It has entered into agreements with various components of the criminal justice system to help ensure that ID offenders and defendants will be appropriately managed by criminal justice personnel. One Irrabeena program has been developed to help prevent violent behavior by ID persons. Six ID offenders have been transferred from an environment where their behavior was disruptive to a group home which promotes prosocial behavior through structure and modeling. Staff members are trained in the promotion of prosocial behaviors and in the cultivation of flexible responses to residents' behavior. The program has been effective in modifying antisocial behaviors and enhancing normalization. 7 references.