Identifying the Issues: Victim Services’ Workers experiences working with victims with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Executive Summary

The purpose of this research was to gain insights from victim services workers’ experiences working with victims with FASD (both with and without a formal diagnosis). Anecdotal information suggests that individuals with FASD are at risk of becoming victims of crime. The authors sought to learn from those who work with victims of crime who have FASD to gain further understanding of how this disability impacts the full participation of victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system.

The role of victim services varies across the country, but they all have a common goal: to provide information and support to victims and witnesses of crime. Victim services workers may only have a short period of time to assist clients and as such, their ability to communicate effectively with clients is crucial to their job.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a lifelong brain-based disability that often goes unrecognized as it is not easily identifiable. Many people suspected of having FASD are not formally diagnosed. The criminal court may be unaware that a victim or witness has FASD, which may negatively impact their experience and interaction with the criminal justice system. For example, the way counsel asks questions is critical for obtaining accurate information from individuals with FASD. Individuals with FASD generally do not understand abstract questions; testimony may be misinterpreted when the court is not aware that victims or witnesses have cognitive limitations.

Victims of crime who have disabilities (including FASD) are at increased risk of being repeatedly victimized compared to the general population. Victims and witnesses with FASD may have difficulty explaining the details of a crime to police, and testifying in court, as well as difficulty conveying their experiences into words when writing a Victim Impact Statement. Victims with FASD are some of the most vulnerable individuals in society since many times their disability is unknown to themselves or the court.

Interviews were sought with victim services workers with experience working with clients who have FASD. Directors of Victim Services in the thirteen jurisdictions across Canada were contacted to assist in identifying workers’ who had experience working with clients with FASD. Twelve interviews were conducted. All participants agreed that FASD is an important issue to address, and that there is a lack of knowledge and awareness of FASD among individuals involved in the criminal court process. All participants recommended training for all justice professionals on FASD.

Participants indicated that the strategies identified for working with clients who have FASD could be used for any client that may have communication or learning challenges.

Participants provided recommendations that could improve their ability to work with clients with FASD, such as having them watch a DVD that explains the court process and having a manual for workers with tips on providing information to clients with communication difficulties. None of these recommendations are resource intensive. Small adjustments to regular work protocols could greatly improve communication between victims and witnesses with FASD and victim services workers’, which could result in improved court experiences for all parties.

1. Introduction

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is the term used to describe the range of permanent brain disorders caused by maternal alcohol use during pregnancy. All individuals with FASD have central nervous system damage, involving varying difficulty with intellect, learning, memory, attention, communication, executive functioning, and adaptive behaviour. FASD is one of the leading causes of developmental disability and mental retardation in Canada (Chudley, Conry, Cook, Loock, Rosales, and LeBlanc 2005; Roberts and Nanson 2000). Empirical evidence has demonstrated that offenders with FASD are at high risk of coming into repeated contact with the criminal justice system (Conry and Fast 2000; MacPherson and Chudley 2007; Streissguth and Kanter 1997).

Victims and witnesses may be impacted by FASD in two ways: they may have FASD themselves, or they may be the victim or a witness of a crime committed by a person with FASD. Both of these circumstances could negatively impact victims and witnesses’ experiences with criminal court proceedings unless there is appropriate awareness about FASD. Victims and witnesses with FASD may have difficulty testifying in court and difficulty in conveying their experiences into words when writing a Victim Impact Statement. In cases where victims or witnesses do not have FASD, but the perpetrator does, FASD may impact upon their experience in a variety of ways: they might not understand the behaviour of the perpetrator including why it appears that the perpetrator does not show remorse and they might not understand the judgement made by the court (e.g., if FASD was considered as a mitigating factor at sentencing).

Individuals with disabilities are at a higher risk of victimization of violent crime (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics 2001; Petersilia 2001). This includes individuals with FASD. As a result of permanent brain damage, individuals with FASD may have difficulties understanding the implications of behaviours that may put them at risk of being victimized. Some of these behaviours include putting themselves in physical or social environments that are unsafe. Individuals with FASD often have difficulties with executive functioning, which may result in them not understanding when someone is taking advantage of them, agreeing to do something to please the person who is making the request (regardless of whether it is right or wrong), or not being able to anticipate the potential consequences of putting themselves at risk. 

Research on FASD and the criminal justice system has focused almost exclusively on the offender and there has been no empirical information collected to date world-wide on victims or witnesses who have FASD. The purpose of this research was to gain knowledge about victim services workers’ experiences working with victims who have FASD (both with and without a formal diagnosis), and with victims where the accused persons have FASD. 

This report is divided into three sections. Following this brief introduction, the second section provides background on FASD, caselaw and FASD, data on victims with disabilities, and victim services in Canada. The third section details the methodology used for this study and the final section presents the findings and a discussion.