Functional illiteracy and neurocognitive deficits among male prisoners: implications for rehabilitation
| Pages | 268-280 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JFP-10-2013-0044 |
| Published date | 04 November 2014 |
| Date | 04 November 2014 |
| Author | Tiina Tuominen,Tapio Korhonen,Heikki Hämäläinen,Satu Temonen,Helena Salo,Jouko Katajisto,Hannu Lauerma |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Forensic practice |
Functional illiteracy and neurocognitive
deficits among male prisoners: implications
for rehabilitation
Tiina Tuominen, Tapio Korhonen, Heikki Ha
¨ma
¨la
¨inen, Satu Temonen, Helena Salo,
Jouko Katajisto and Hannu Lauerma
Tiina Tuominen, Dr Tapio
Korhonen, Professor Heikki
Ha
¨ma
¨la
¨inen, Satu Temonen
and Helena Salo, all are based
at Department of Psychology,
Centre for Cognitive
Neuroscience, University of
Turku, Turku, Finland.
Dr Jouko Katajisto, based at
Department of Statistics,
University of Turku, Turku,
Finland.
Associate Professor Hannu
Lauerma, based at Psychiatric
Hospital for Prisoners,
National Institute for Health and
Welfare, University of Turku,
Finland.
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the nature of the academic skills deficits in male
offenders and their relation to neurocognitive deficits.
Design/methodology/approach – In total, 72 Finnish male prisoners were tested with regard to reading,
spelling, and mathematical abilities.
Findings – Low academic skills, especially reading, were related to poor neurocognitive performance in
verbal memory, visual memory, attention, and motor dexterity. The results showed a high number (29-36
percent) of reading and spelling disorders. In all, 15 percent of those with medium to severe problems in
academic skills had marked difficulties in mathematics. In total, 88 percent of the participants with at least
one problem area in literacy skills had neurocognitive deficits. In the present study, the pervasive
neurocognitive deficits, occurring comorbidly with reading and spelling difficulties, seem to refer to a
fundamental set of deficits which are only minimally explained by IQ, educational background or training.
Research limitations/implications – Reading and spelling difficulties could be seen as functional illiteracy
which, combined with a broad spectrum of neuropsychological function deficits, pose a challengingtask for
rehabilitation. Only after proper identification of deficits has been achieved is it possible to set goals and
select the appropriate means for rehabilitation. One obvious limitation is the moderate number of subjects
(n ¼72).
Practical implications – It may not be enough just to train reading or develop literacy activities among
prisoners; focussing intervention on comprehensive neurocognitive deficits is also necessary.
Originality/value – Correlates and comorbidity between academic difficulties and neurocognitive deficits
among offenders, especially in arithmetic difficulties, have been less studied.
Keywords Academic skills, Illiteracy, Male offenders, Neurocognitive deficits, Prisoners, Rehabilitation
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Good academic skills are of major importance for success in society. Several studies have
shown that poor academic achievement in domains such as reading,spelling, and mathematics
are considered risk factors for adjustment problems, as well as for antisocial and criminal
behavior (Bennett et al., 2003; Hinshaw, 1992; Murphy et al., 2000; Kirk and Reid, 2001).
In recent years, several studies have examined the prevalence of reading difficulties among
offenders and found it to be much higher than in the general population (Alm and Anderson,
1997; Dalteg et al., 1997; Snowling et al., 2000). However, there are extensive differences
regarding the prevalence of reading and writing difficulties among offenders. As many as
two-thirds of offenders have been found to suffer from some reading and spelling difficulties
(Alm and Anderson, 1997; Lindgren et al., 2002; Samuelsson et al., 2003; Svensson et al.,
2003) but Svensson et al. (2001) reported that even 70 percent of Swedish delinquents have
This work was supported by the
Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation,
the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the
OP-Pohjola Group Research
Foundation, the Jalmari and Rauha
Ahokas Foundation and the
Criminal Sanctions Agency in
Finland.
PAGE 268
j
JOURNAL OF FORENSIC PRACTICE
j
VOL. 16 NO. 4 2014, pp. 268-280, CEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2050-8794 DOI 10.1108/JFP-10-2013-0044
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