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Almost nine out of 10 young offenders in Northern Ireland suffer from a brain injury.

That’s according to new research carried out by two Queen’s University doctors.

Acquired brain injuries can stem from a trauma, tumours, strokes or even viruses like meningitis.

But despite the high number of young offenders who could technically be categorised as ‘disabled’ - Queen’s boffin Dr Mark Linden said the injury isn’t factored in.

Both he and Brain Injury Matters chief, Fiona McCabe, are calling for more investment in brain injury rehab to help reduce offending, social exclusion and mental health difficulties.

Dr Linden said: “Our work showed 87% of young (18-24) male offenders in Northern Ireland have had some degree of brain injury.

“These injuries have occurred during childhood or adolescence and many of these young men fail to fully develop regions of the brain which govern behaviour, understanding the consequences of their actions and the regulation of behaviour.

“The reason this is an important area is because these kids don’t really get a lot of help or support once their lives are saved in the hospital.

“There is a lot of money poured into the acute end of things and then when they leave hospital they are left to their own devices.

“We have five adult brain injury teams in Northern Ireland, but not one child brain injury team. It’s a bit shocking.”

But Dr Linden said the difference between young male and women offenders was negligible.

“We also did work with the women,” he added.

“There was smaller numbers. We had 29 women - a 55% response rate - and we showed there was a 79% level of brain injury amongst women.

“It’s really high, but the fascinating thing about the women compared to the men was that those rates were more to do with domestic abuse and childhood sexual abuse.”

Dr Linden said he researched the subject in conjunction with Phd student Conall O’Rourke - now also a doctor - with the details being revealed in conjunction with Acquired Brain Injury Awareness Week (May 14-20).

He added: “Most of these cases were traumatic brain injuries - which is more unique.

“Certainly kids can get meningitis, infections, brain tumours, cancers and viruses and things, but what we are seeing amongst the young offenders and women, is that it is mostly traumatic brain injuries.”

Dr Linden said he would like to see the work used to “develop some sort of screening” and “put programmes in place” to help young offenders in Northern Ireland.

He continued: “I have been given a figure of £45,000 for someone going into the criminal justice system - which is huge - and if that’s really down to them not being fully in control of their actions, they should be diverted somewhere else.”

Fiona McCabe from Brain Injury Matters said the numbers with brain injuries is worrying.

“Lack of any investment is failing our young people,” she added.

(Image: posed by model)

“We are missing opportunities to intervene early and avoid long term problems which ultimately results in a poorer quality of life for them.

“Recently, Brain Injury Matters developed a programme called ‘Youth Matters’ for young people with an acquired brain injury. The demand for this has been very high and proves that there has been a complete lack of attention towards this high-risk group.”

What Causes an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)?

· Trauma e.g. fall, sporting accident, road traffic collision or assault

· Stroke

· Hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain)

· Infection e.g. Encephalitis

· Substance abuse

· Tumour

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