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📋 Summary

Learning Disabilities & Mental Retardation 📚🧠

PSY513 - Forensic Psychology

📚🧠 Quick Overview

This chapter explores the relationship between IQ, learning disabilities, mental retardation (intellectual disability) and criminal behavior. Key finding: Low IQ does NOT directly cause crime - the relationship is mediated by other factors.

🧠 IQ and Criminal Behavior

  • Prisoners average 8-10 IQ points below general population
  • Not causative - Low IQ doesn't directly cause crime
  • Mediating factors: School failure, limited job opportunities, poor impulse control
  • Lower VERBAL IQ more strongly linked to delinquency

📚 Learning Disabilities Types

  • Dyslexia: Difficulty with reading
  • Dyscalculia: Difficulty with mathematics
  • Dysgraphia: Difficulty with writing
  • ADHD: Attention deficit and hyperactivity
  • Auditory Processing Disorder: Difficulty processing sounds

🧠 Intellectual Disability Levels (IQ Ranges)

  • 🟢 Mild: IQ 50-70 (can live independently)
  • 🟡 Moderate: IQ 35-50 (need significant support)
  • 🟠 Severe: IQ 20-35 (substantial support)
  • 🔴 Profound: IQ below 20 (constant care)

⚖️ Legal Considerations

Intellectually disabled individuals are MORE OFTEN VICTIMS than perpetrators. Issues: Competency to stand trial, false confessions risk, need for special safeguards. Supreme Court ruled against executing intellectually disabled individuals.