By Sarah Anderson

Focus on the interconnection of interpersonal violence, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma and justice-involvement has increased interest internationally among policymakers and practitioners working within criminal justice contexts for ‘trauma-informed’ approaches and interventions which facilitate recovery. This article discusses limitations of employing these concepts to make sense of the lives of criminal-justice involved people. Drawing on UK-based research using interviews and collage-workshops to gather autobiographical narratives of 16 repeatedly-criminalised men, a case vignette is presented to show the institutional and structural contexts of interpersonal violence, and the critical role of the criminal justice system (CJS) in obscuring and perpetuating violence. This raises doubt about the CJS's capacity to respond to trauma. The contribution of this article is to integrate theoretical conceptualisations of violence and empirical findings to critique the possibility of trauma-informed practice (TIP) within a criminal justice context.

Howard J. Crim. Justice. 2025;64:24–43 pages

By Patrick Lussier and Evan McCuish

Objectives

There is empirical evidence that sexual recidivism rates have been dropping for several decades, but it remains unclear whether this drop is an artifact of changing research methodologies over the years. The current study, therefore, examines whether the sexual recidivism drop is robust while accounting for various methodological factors.

Method

The study is based on a systematic review and a quantitative meta-analysis of 468 empirical studies published between 1940 and 2019 that reported sexual recidivism rates. A total of 626 estimations (n = 388,994) of sexual recidivism were retrieved for the study period and of those, 238 were independent observations (n = 196,651). A series of sensitivity analyses were conducted using a meta-regression approach.

Results

A series of meta-regression analyses show that, even after accounting for various methodological factors (e.g., study settings, follow-up length, recidivism criteria), there has been a sexual recidivism rate drop of about 45–60% since the 1970s.

Conclusions

The study findings confirm the presence of a sexual recidivism drop while recognizing that sexual recidivism rates are sensitive to methodological details.

Journal of Criminal Justice

Volume 92, May–June 2024, 102188, p. 16

By Isabella Voce and Anthony Morgan

The cost of cybercrime is often expressed in terms of the financial loss to individuals, businesses and governments. This report argues that in order to invest the necessary financial, human and technical resources in prevention and response, perceived harm must be widened to include practical, health, social, financial and legal impacts.

The authors propose a harm index for victims, using a novel approach that draws on victim self-report data collected through the Australian Cybercrime Survey. The index provides a measure of the relative severity of each of 17 types of cybercrime, calculated based on victim reports of the prevalence and severity of each harm.

Key findings

Nearly half of all respondents had been a victim of at least one type of cybercrime in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Cybercrime victims experience a range of harms arising from their victimisation. Practical, social and health impacts were the most common harms experienced, followed by financial and legal difficulties.

Most cybercrime harm (71%) is concentrated among victims who did not lose any money in the most recent incident (82% of victims).

Harm can be reduced when incidents are successfully disrupted or steps are taken to minimise the impact on victims.

Certain groups are over-represented as victims, with this over-representation even more pronounced when the level of harm is taken into account.

Repeat victimisation is also common: 11% of individuals accounted for 58% of the harm reported in the survey.

There was a significant relationship between a victim’s total harm score and their likelihood of seeking help from the police.

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice 706

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2025. 21p.

By Sandra Aguilar-Gómez and Andrea Salazar-Díaz

Every year, 245 million women are victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Climate change is hypothesized to exacerbate this figure through its disruptive impact on household livelihoods, among other channels. However, little causal evidence exists on this aspect of the climate-gender nexus, partly due to measurement challenges that have contributed to gaps in the literature. In this paper, we use three different IPV data sources to examine the effect of drought in Mexico and the role of agricultural vulnerability in intensifying these effects. We find robust evidence of increases in all measures of IPV in response to local precipitation deficits: as unanticipated exposure to days without rain in the previous month rises, more injuries linked to IPV are recorded in the public health system, police reports increase, and more 911 calls related to IPV are made. The effects are stronger in regions highly dependent on agriculture, particularly when the shock occurs during the growing season. In a country where most agricultural income and land are controlled by men, our results align with theoretical predictions from male-backlash IPV models and extractive violence models. We also find that the impact of drought on IPV is more pronounced in municipalities with low state capacity, though potential differences in reporting behavior between IPV measures complicate comparisons. Our findings underscore the need to design gender-sensitive disaster relief policies, strengthen trust in reporting mechanisms and helplines, and reduce the social acceptability of IPV

WORKING PAPER No IDB-WP-1653, Inter-American Development Bank Gender and Diversity Division . 2025. 43p.

By Kaitlyn Rines

This report summarizes law enforcement reports of sexual assault offenses for the State of Ohio during the years 2016-2023. We also summarize characteristics of crime incidents, victims and suspects. We provide sexual assault rates throughout this report, and it is important to understand how we calculated them and what they mean. First, we calculate offense totals by counting the number of sexual assault victimizations documented within each law enforcement incident report. Sexual assault victim totals do not necessarily represent unique victims. For example, law enforcement could report that a suspect sexually assaulted an individual more than once during a single incident. Further, a suspect could assault the same individual during a different incident. Therefore, it is almost certain that the sexual assault offense total is larger than the number of individuals who were victims of sexual assaults. Next, we calculate the rate of sexual assault by dividing the sexual assault total by the population total and then multiplying the resulting number (the quotient) by 100,000. This yields a sexual assault crime rate per 100,000 persons. We provide Ohio’s overall sexual assault crime rates over time, and we also compare rates of sexual assault for Ohio’s standard demographic groups (e.g., age, sex, race). Rates can vary significantly depending on how many victimizations a group experienced as well as the size of one group versus another. For example, the sexual assault crime rate is much higher for female Ohioans than males, largely because the number of female sexual assaults is much larger than male. Further, most sexual assault victims are White females because most of Ohio is White. However, Black females have the highest victimization rate because their sexual assault total is large while their overall population size is small.

Columbus:; Ohio Department of Public Safety, Office of Criminal Justice Services. 2024. 62p.

By United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UN Women

In this publication, the term “femicide” is used to refer to all types of gender-related killings of women and girls as described in the “Statistical framework for measuring the gender-related killing of women and girls (also referred to as “femicide/feminicide”)”.

Globally, approximately 51,100 women and girls were killed by their intimate partners or other family members during 2023. Higher than the 2022 estimate of 48,800 victims, this change is not indicative of an actual increase as it is largely due to differences in data availability at the country level. The 2023 figure means that 60 per cent of the almost 85,000 women and girls killed intentionally during the year were murdered by their intimate partners or other family members. In other words, an average of 140 women and girls worldwide lost their lives every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative...

P.18 When considering possible risk factors, it should be noted that fewer victims (11 per cent) and perpetrators (20 per cent) of femicides are under the influence of alcohol than in the case of male homicides (25 and 30 per cent respectively). Some studies point to the drug intoxication of victims as a homicidal risk factor,13 but in the case of femicides in France, this does not seem to be the case, with 3 per cent of victims and 5 per cent of perpetrators of femicide being under the influence of drugs at the time of the crime.

Vienna: UNODC, 2024. 36p.

By Ulla D. Berg, and Sebastian K. León

Each year the United States government detains and deports hundreds of thousands of people who prior to their removal are held in confinement for an average of 55 days. The short and long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic on migrant detention and deportation continue to be evaluated in real time, including how we can best study it. This paper provides a timely analysis on the relationship between immigration enforcement and confinement, public health emergencies, and ethnographic methods. It makes two contributions. The first is methodological and focuses on the challenges and opportunities of ethnographic methods in carceral settings when pandemic-related protocols have raised additional challenges to conventional in-person prison ethnography. The second contribution is empirical and documents how we adapted ethnographic methods to an interdisciplinary research design and to the exigencies of the pandemic to study the spread of the coronavirus in four immigrant detention facilities in New Jersey, USA.

EthnographyVolume 25, Issue 3, September 2024, Pages 314-334

By Elena Marushiakova, and Vesselin Popov

In their centuries-old history, the Roma (formerly known as Gypsies) experienced many difficult moments and cruel trials from their arrival in Europe until now. The history of the Roma in the USSR is no exception in this respect. Along with affirmative state policy towards them (at least until the end of the 1930s), they also fell victim to the massive political repressions of that time. In this book, the Roma victims of these repressions are made visible and the scale of the repressions against them is discussed. The authors describe the political repression of Roma not as an isolated historical phenomenon explicitly aimed at the Roma as a separate ethnic community but understand the events as a component of the mass terror and brutal against all Soviet citizens. In this way, the history of the Roma is inscribed in the general history of the USSR.

Leiden; Boston: Brill: 2024.

By Marleen Gorissen, Chantal JW van den Berg, Stijn Ruiter, Catrien CJH Bijleveld

Online disclosure of sexual violence victimisation is a relatively new phenomenon. While prior research has mainly relied on analysis of Twitter data from the #MeToo period, this study compares such disclosures across platforms over two years. Using machine learning, 2927 disclosures were identified for quantitative content analysis and multiple correspondence analysis. Online platforms differed in timing of the posts, information shared, information density, co-occurrence of information and the length of the disclosure message. Most disclosures were found on the platform Twitter, and during the #MeToo movement. These posts differ from disclosures on other platforms and outside the viral movement. Regarding the content, across all platforms and periods, clustering was found around offender-oriented information, making the offender an explicit part of the experience. This study shows that an exclusive focus on online disclosures on Twitter and during viral movements gives a biased and incomplete picture of what online disclosure of sexual victimisation entails. Our cross-platform analysis over time allows for more universal statements about the content and context of online disclosures of sexual victimisation.

Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 144, July 2023, 107724

By Wim Bernasco*, Marre Lammers, Barbara Menting, Stijn Ruiter

The interpretation of research findings based on self-reported delinquency requires knowledge of how response rates depend on the attributes of potential respondents, including their prior offending. The purpose of the present study was to quantify the extent to which, in a sample of offenders, the two main determinants of non-response – non-contact and refusal – depend on prior offending frequency. We used binomial and multinomial regression models to assess whether frequent offenders are more difficult to contact and less willing to participate in online surveys. These hypotheses are tested on a sample of offenders who were invited by regular mail to participate in the Online Activity Space Inventory Survey (OASIS), an online survey on mobility and safety. Controlling for gender and age as potential confounders, our findings do not confirm that frequent offenders are less likely to be successfully contacted, but they do confirm that, if contacted, they are less likely to participate. Response rates in offender-based research are selective and thus potentially biased towards infrequent offenders. They generally favour conservative estimates and conclusions, implying that any associations found between crime and its predictors are likely stronger in reality.

European Journal of Criminology, Volume 19, Issue 6, November 2022, Pages 1403-1420

By Barbara Menting, Marre Lammers, Stijn Ruiter*, Wim Bernasco

Crime pattern theory predicts that offenders commit offences in their activity spaces. We also propose that they most likely offend in the more frequently visited parts. Previous studies used offenders' residential areas or other activity space proxy measures but lacked data on other routinely visited places (e.g., work, school, and leisure activities). A major contribution of this study is the use of an online survey in which 78 offenders reported on their own activity spaces and committed offences (n = 140). Results show that offending is much more likely in offenders' activity spaces than elsewhere, and effects increase with visiting frequency. Although residential area is a good predictor, offenders' more extensive self-reported activity spaces predict much better where they commit offences.

The British Journal of Criminology, Volume 60, Issue 2, March 2020, Pages 303–322,

By Siobhan Lawler

As gatekeepers to restorative justice (RJ) programs for domestic and family violence (DFV) and sexual violence, stakeholders in referring agencies perform the critical role of assessing the suitability of cases for entry into these programs. This article draws on interviews with 47 stakeholders in an RJ program for DFV and sexual violence in the Australian Capital Territory to better understand stakeholder decision-making about referrals. Findings show stakeholders’ decisions around which matters to refer to RJ centre on assessments of victim‑survivors’ safety and offender accountability. Many stakeholders are risk averse when deciding whether to make a referral, which may inadvertently reduce opportunities for victim-survivors to benefit and achieve their justice goals.

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 707, Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. 2025. 15p.

Edited by Teela Sanders Jane Scoular · Barbara G. Brents Susie Balderston · Gillian Abel

This open access book draws on an international research project, using extensive and multiple methods to explore unwanted sexual contact and violence in sex work populations. A project delivered by a large team of sex workers, peer researchers, and academics, and with practitioner input over a four-year period, the central question they explore is: how do social, legal, and judicial contexts shape the safety and well-being of people engaging in sex work? The book compares survey and interview data conducted in 2023 across four different legal environments: legalisation (Nevada, USA), criminalisation (Northern Ireland), decriminalisation (New Zealand) and partial criminalisation (UK). It explores how the interaction between legal consciousness (how people in sex work interpret law, consent, their rights, and how or whether to report), legal norms (legal theory, case rulings, legal codes) and legal practices (what police, lawyers, and judges actually do) affects unwanted contact against sex workers. This book advances understanding of the various layers regulating sexual autonomy for marginalised peoples — the specific factors that impact the negotiation, experiences, and disposition of crimes of sexual violence in different socio-legal contexts.

Cham: Springer Nature, 2025. 283p.

By Jacob Kaplan · Aaron Chalfn

Observational evidence suggests that better ambient lighting leads people to feel safer when spending time outdoors in their community. We subject this finding to greater scrutiny and elaborate on the extent to which improvements in street lighting affect routine activities during nighttime hours. We report evidence from a survey experiment that examines individual's' perceptions of safety under two different intensities of nighttime ambient lighting. Brighter street lighting leads individuals to feel safer and over half of survey respondents are willing to pay an additional $400 per year in taxes in order to finance a hypothetical program which would replace dim yellow street lights with brighter LED lights. However, poor lighting does not change people’s willingness to spend time outdoors or to engage in behaviors which mitigate risk. Results suggest that street lighting is a means through which policymakers can both control crime and improve community well-being.

Security Journal (2022) 35:694–724

By Cherrell Green

While Black males are disproportionately impacted by gun homicide, they are also grossly impacted by non -fatal shootings. The impact of gun violence extends far beyond the immediate physical harm inflicted by bullets; this harm can permeate and disrupt personal relationships, create lasting psychological distress, and undermine a sense of safety within communities. However, the needs of injured Black men are often overlooked in public discourse. Despitethe prevalenceofthesetraumaticexperiencesinthe livesoflow-incomeBlackmen,theirresponseto trauma is often treated as pathology, with fewer resources devoted to addressing the adverse consequences associated with these experiences. This policy brief summarizes key findings from a study involving 18 in-person semi-structured interviews with Black men across the United States who have sustained a gunshot injury. The findings highlight the individual and institutional harm Black men with gunshot wounds (GSWs) experience at the hands of both police officers and health care providers. Consequently, this brief proposes changes designed to positively impact the lives of Black men affected by gun violence throughout the continuum of care.

San Diego: University of San Diego, Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, 2024. 27p.

By The Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

A mob destroyed 35-square-blocks of the African Amer i can Community during the eve - ning of May 31, through the afternoon of June 1, 1921. It was a tragic, infamous moment in Oklahoma and the nation’s history. The worst civil disturbance since the Civil War. In the aftermath of the death and destruction the people of our state suffered from a fatigue of faith — some still search for a statute of limitation on morality, attempting to forget the longevity of the residue of injustice that at best can leave little room for the healing of the heart. Perhaps this report, and subsequent humanitarian recovery events by the governments and the good people of the state will extract us from the guilt and confirm the commandment of a good and just God — leaving the deadly deeds of 1921 buried in the call for redemption, historical correctness, and re pair. Then we can proudly sing together: “We know we belong to this land. “And the land we belong to is grand, and when we say, ay yippy yi ki yea, “We’re only saying, you’re doing fine Oklahoma.” “Oklahoma, you’re O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Oklahoma OK.”

Oklahoma Historical Society, [Oklahoma City], 2001, 200p.

By Anniina Jokinen, Anna-Greta Pekkarinen, Jessiina Rantanen

Forced marriage is a multifaceted phenomenon encompassing sev - eral intersecting factors that relate to situations in which individu - als are compelled to marry or stay married against their will. Forced marriage is widely recognized as a violation of human rights and in particular as a form of gender-based violence and honour-based vio - lence. The harms and negative consequences of forced marriages are multifold and challenge many service providers as well as the crimi - nal justice system. This report outlines the concrete challenges, factors and con - cepts that must be addressed when developing effective responses to tackle forced marriages and providing support to victims and persons affected. It is targeted towards various professionals and practitioners who may encounter victims of forced marriage or persons, families or communities affected by the phenomenon in their line of work. The content is based on a desk review of academic and other relevant liter - ature, as well information collected by the EASY project partners: the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI), University of Lleida (Spain), Associació Valentes I Acompanyades (Spain), SOLWODI (Germany), and the Im - migrant Council of Ireland, to identify approaches that have relevance in the development of effective and victim-centred interventions for victims of forced marriages. The best practices were collected mainly via semi-structured (individual or group) interviews with experts and/or survivors, that were based on a shared interview framework. The interviews were conducted in the summer and autumn of 2023.1 The experts interviewed included, e.g., NGO representatives and counsellors working with topics related to forced marriage, migrant women’s rights, honor-based violence and human trafficking, shelter/residential counsellors, government officials and policymakers, and law enforcement authorities from Finland, Germany, Ireland, and Catalonia (Spain). The survivors interviewed included, e.g., victim-survivors who work as mentors and/or had been supported by the interviewing organisation. Throughout the report there are quotes from the interviews to demonstrate the challenges, experiences and solutions identified. Table 1. Number of persons interviewed to collect best practices by each country and in total. The best practices collected were also shared and discussed with partners in a best practice workshop hosted by SOLWODI in Bonn, Germany on 20–21 November 2023. Each partner identified 4–8 best practices with a focus on themes such as proactive methods to identify victims, engaging with persons from impacted communities and reducing the risk of forced marriage; ways to support and assist victims; training and awareness-raising activities targeting professionals; multi-agency collaboration at local, national and international levels; and municipal, regional or national strategies to tackle or address honor-related violence and/or forced marriages. Ten of the collected best practices were selected and summarised for this publication. Moreover, in early 2024, the EASY project partners launched a legislative overview which presents the results of comparative desk research on the legal approach to forced marriage in Germany, Finland, Ireland and Spain (Villacampa and Salat 2023). Therefore, this report does not cover legislative frameworks and procedures in place in the four countries to address forced marriages and to protect the victims as they are covered in detail in the legislative overview. The two reports are complimentary. The ultimate aim of the EASY project is to enhance support for victims/survivors of forced marriage and strengthen the work against forced marriage in the four partner countries.

Helsinki: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI) HEUNI, 2024. 58p.

By Aisha M Abubakar, Rowland G Seymour, Alison Gardner, Imogen Lambert, Rachel Fyson, Nicola Wright

Background

Exploitation poses a significant public health concern. This paper highlights ‘jigsaw pieces’ of statistical evidence, indicating cognitive impairment as a pre- or co-existing factor in exploitation.

Methods

We reviewed English Safeguarding Adults Collection (SAC) data and Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) from 2017 to 22. Data relevant to exploitation and cognitive impairment were analysed using summary statistics and ‘analysis of variance’.

Results

Despite estimates suggesting cognitive impairments may be prevalent among people experiencing exploitation in England, national datasets miss opportunities to illuminate this issue. Although SAC data include statistics on support needs and various forms of abuse and exploitation, they lack intersectional data. Significant regional variations in recorded safeguarding investigations and potential conflation between abuse and exploitation also suggest data inconsistencies. Increased safeguarding investigations for people who were not previously in contact with services indicate that adults may be ‘slipping through the net’. SARs, although representing serious cases, provide stronger evidence linking cognitive impairment with risks of exploitation.

Conclusions

This study identifies opportunities to collect detailed information on cognitive impairment and exploitation. The extremely limited quantitative evidence-base could be enhanced using existing data channels to build a more robust picture, as well as improve prevention, identification and response efforts for ‘at-risk’ adults.

Journal of Public Health, Volume 46, Issue 4, December 2024, Pages 498–505,

By Aisha Abubakar, Rowland Seymour, Alison Gardner, Nicola Wright, Rachel Fyson, Imogen Lambert, and Rachael Clawsona

People with an illness, disability or other health conditions are more likely to experience various forms of exploitation in comparison to other groups, particularly if their health condition necessitates assistance with daily functioning such as personal care, financial management, or socialising. For the purpose of this study, we consider a wide range of cognitive impairments and differences that affect processing, understanding, and memory, and therefore may cause additional challenges in everyday life. People with ‘hidden’ disabilities such as mental health conditions, cognitive decline, intellectual disabilities, autism, and ADHD are more vulnerable to exploitation than people with other types of disability. For example, they may be vulnerable due to trauma from adverse experiences leading to dissociation, or addiction means they can be exploited to fulfil their needs. They may struggle to recognise when they are being exploited and may be unable to effectively communicate or report abuse. Adults with cognitive impairment living alone may be vulnerable, while those having difficulty understanding financial matters may be more vulnerable to financial exploitation. The aforementioned factors not only increase vulnerability to exploitation but also amplify the severity of harm when exploitation occurs, making the relationship between cognitive impairment and exploitation a complex and multidimensional phenomenon. Hence, implementing strategies that pay attention to these factors is imperative in preventing exploitation and mitigating the severity of harm. Yet, there is a lack of public and official statistics to quantify the intersections between exploitation and disability/cognitive impairment to inform appropriate strategies for mitigation. Adults with cognitive impairments may be classed as a vulnerable group of individuals at increased risk of being exploited because of their reduced capacity to identify and report abuse or exploitation. Hence the prevalence of exploitation in this population is

not well understood, it is thought to be under-reported due to the challenges faced by these individuals in communicating their experiences . Section 42 (S42) of the Care Act 2014 requires local authorities in England to conduct investigations when they have reasonable grounds to suspect that an adult with care and support needs is experiencing, or is at risk of experiencing, abuse, neglect, or exploitation. Social workers, health professionals, the police, and other relevant stakeholders are all involved in S42 investigations, with the aim of ensuring the safety and well-being of adults with care and support needs, as well as preventing and responding to incidences of maltreatment. Hence, these enquiries are intended to garner information about the adult and their circumstances, assess the risks to their safety, and determine the best way to protect them. Estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) show that between 2014 and 2020, people with cognitive impairment aged between 16 and 59 were more likely to be victims of different forms of domestic abuse and sexual assaults than people with other forms of impairment, particularly women. However, it is not possible to extrapolate what incidents reported by individuals with lived experience constitute exploitation in the CSEW. Hence this paper is an exploratory study aimed at quantitatively understanding the intersections between cognitive impairment and exploitation. Given that there is currently very little intersecting data, quantitative statements about how people with cognitive impairment are at risk of, or are being exploited, need to be extrapolated. To extrapolate the relationship between cognitive impairment and exploitation, this

study provides a descriptive account of disability prevalence, exploitation prevalence and S42 enquiries in English LAs using data from the Family Resources Survey (FRS), the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), and the Safeguarding Adults Collection (SAC), with the aim of addressing the following important questions: • Are there trends in disability prevalence and exploitation by types of impairment, and if so, what types of cognitive impairment and exploitation are more prominent? • Are there trends in S42 enquiries, and if so, what are they? • What proportion of S42 enquiries involved people with cognitive impairment? • How frequently did exploitation appear as a factor of S42 enquiries? The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 explains what data is currently available to quantify the relationship between cognitive impairment and exploitation. The results and discussion in Section 3 then provides a contextual and descriptive account of the prevalence of disability and exploitation in England, including findings from the analysis of S42 enquiries. The final section offers concluding remarks, limitations, and emerging recommendations.

Working Paper 2023 50p.

By Alison Gardner, Aisha Abubakar, Imogen Lambert, David Charnock, Rachael Clawson, Rachel Fyson, Nicola Wright , Rowland Seymour

In recent years there has been increasing attention to ‘modern slavery’, human trafficking and wider forms of exploitation both in the UK and internationally. There has also been growing awareness that people can be placed at risk of exploitation by a wide range of personal, social and economic circumstances, including physical and mental health issues. News stories have highlighted examples of people with different forms of cognitive impairment experiencing control and exploitation by those seeking to profit from their labour or property, sometimes over long periods of time. However, statistics on this issue remain elusive. This project aimed to provide the first robust description of the intersection between cognitive impairment and the exploitation of adults in England. We were interested mainly in cognitive impairment as a risk factor prior-to exploitation, rather than impairment caused by experiences of exploitation. Whilst we recognise that there is a wide spread of IQ and cognitive ability across populations, we define cognitive impairment broadly to include both developmental and acquired impairments including intellectual disability, dementia, brain injury, autistic spectrum disorders, ADHD, functional mental health disorders and substance misuse. We also examined a diverse spectrum of exploitation looking at a range of situations where one person, either opportunistically or premeditatedly, unfairly manipulates another person for profit or personal gain. Research methods Our multi—method study included the following methods of data collection and analysis. ■ A wide-ranging scoping review of existing literature. ■ Analysis of statistical information, including data on exploitation and support needs within the Safeguarding Adults Collection (SAC) from NHS England Digital between 2017 and 2022, as well as wider contextual data. ■ Quantitative and qualitative analysis of evidence extracted from Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) featuring exploitation during the same period (2017-2022). SARs (formerly known as serious case reviews) are initiated in cases where an adult with care and support needs has suffered serious harm or death, and abuse or exploitation is suspected. From our initial search of a national library of SARs we identified and analysed 58 narrative SARs featuring exploitation involving 71 people. ■ An open online survey of practitioners who were working in roles relevant to safeguarding people with cognitive impairment, which gained 95 responses. ■ Semi-structured interviews with 24 practitioners and 26 people who had lived experience of cognitive impairments and exploitation. ■ Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to inform our understanding of how factors combine to increase risks for exploitation.

Key findings 1 Previous studies suggest that cognitive impairments can increase vulnerability to exploitation Academic literature looking at cognitive impairment and exploitation is sparse, but our scoping review found 20 studies published in English that related to the topic. These covered three types of exploitation (sexual, financial and criminal) with intellectual disability and mental health the most frequently discussed types of impairments. The literature indicated that cognitive impairment was a factor increasing vulnerability to exploitation, but the limited number of studies meant that it was difficult to disentangle complexities in the relationship between cognitive impairment and exploitation without further research. 2 Existing datasets and surveys miss important opportunities to publish intersecting data on cognitive impairment and exploitation. Building on the literature review, we went on to examine the data that was available in England relating to cognitive impairment and exploitation. A review of statistical information found that existing English surveys and datasets currently describe the prevalence of disability and exploitation separately. With minor adjustments these could collate and publish intersecting data on cognitive impairment and exploitation, but at present these opportunities are being missed. Safeguarding Adults Collection (SAC) Data from NHS England includes statistics on support needs (including cognitive impairments) and various forms of abuse and exploitation, but has some limitations. In particular, it does not yet publish data showing the intersections between different types of support needs and forms of abuse. There were also significant regional variations in recorded safeguarding investigations, as well as potential for conflation between abuse and exploitation, which could create data inconsistencies. The SAC data did show increased safeguarding investigations for people who were not previously in contact with services, indicating that more adults with support needs may not be known to services until a crisis occurs. There were also a small but increasing number of reports of modern slavery. 3 Cognitive impairments are present within 96% of individuals in Safeguarding Adults Reviews that include exploitation Analysis of Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) on exploitation showed clearer connection between cognitive impairment and exploitation. Approximately 96% of individuals in reviews that included exploitation between 2017 and 2022 focussed on adults who had some form of cognitive impairment. 4 People are often exploited in multiple ways, and alongside other abuses The relationship between cognitive impairment and exploitation is complex, with multiple forms of exploitation and abuse often co-existing and overlapping, alongside diverse risk factors. Both data from SARs and our survey suggests that financial exploitation and ‘mate crime’ (being exploited by someone posing as a friend) were the most commonly-experienced forms of exploitation. However, these more frequently observed forms often co-occur alongside others, such as sexual, labour or criminal exploitation. People with experience of living with cognitive impairment also identified ‘everyday exploitation’ as part of their regular experience, including issues like being targeted for phone and online scams. 5 Risks for exploitation arise not just from cognitive conditions, but their social impacts. The presence of a coercive and controlling relationship is a key factor. Factors identified as contributing to vulnerability included substance misuse, intellectual disabilities, mental health and dementia or cognitive decline, though in many cases there were multiple diagnoses. Complex and developmental trauma in earlier life was frequently evident. A lack of diagnosis was also a frequent challenge for practitioners seeking to support individuals at risk of exploitation. Beyond clinical factors, a range of social drivers impacted on vulnerability to exploitation, including limited or absent family support, harmful social networks, trauma and isolation. People with lived experience also described the impact of discrimination and hate-crime, and social precarity, sometimes driven through factors such as irregular immigration status or unemployment. Factors such as a history of abuse and/ or other adverse experiences such as bullying could also be present. Coercive and controlling relationships were also a significant factor predicting exploitation alongside the existence of social networks used to target a potential victim.

Nottingham, UK: University of Nottingham, Rights Lab, 2024. 58p.