People with Intellectual Disabilities Sentenced to Preventive Supervision – Mandatory Care outside Jails and Institutions

  In Norway, certain adults with intellectual disabilities who were arrested were not held responsible for their crimes. Instead of receiving a conviction and a prison term, they were sentenced to preventive supervision. In January 2002, Norwegian law changed and these types of adults are now sentenced to “mandatory care” in their municipalities. As little research had been carried out on the characteristics of these offenders and the services they received, the authors studied the characteristics of this group and compared them with the results of other studies. Study subjects were 27 persons assigned to preventive supervision during 2002. Using questionnaires, the authors collected data from four sources of information: the supervised persons’ key carers, the care managers, the probation officers, and the criminal register. Common offenses included sexual behavior offenses, arson, and violence. Many of the subjects had coincident mental health and behavioral problems and most received specialist health services. Both carers and probation officers rated the original preventive supervision model as satisfactory. The authors conclude that preventive supervision, now termed “mandatory care,” can provide offenders with intellectual disabilities with a secure and supervised community‐residential placement while giving them access to specialized health and counseling services and providing safety for the community. As mandatory care is a new service, further follow‐up and research are needed to investigate its long‐term outcomes.