Developing a screening tool for offenders with intellectual disabilities – the RAPID

The purpose of this paper is to outline and report on the initial development of a screening tool for offenders with suspected intellectual disability (ID) known as the rapid assessment of potential intellectual disability (RAPID).

This paper summarises the wider literature in relation to screening tools and methodology, indicating that quick and easy screening measures for this population are sparse. It outlines the processes involved in the early stages of developing an evidence-based screening tool for ID offenders, and an overall pathway approach to the identification, assessment and diagnosis of ID.

It is possible to develop a tool that can be used to identify potential ID with relative ease. The RAPID screening tool provided practitioners with a simple and easy measure to identify such individuals so that they may be referred for further specialist assessment. It has also demonstrated that it is an effective measure in identifying offenders with a possible ID.

Formal statistical validation of this tool will serve to establish and measure its overall effectiveness and utility, further encouraging the timely identification of ID offenders.

This paper responds to current extensive literature about the variability of screening measures, and provides an effective solution to the identification of vulnerable offenders. Those who may benefit from an assessment of ID, and thereafter reasonable adjustments and alternatives to custodial sentencing are considered.