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Pragmatic Disorders in Forensic Settings

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Pragmatics and Law

Part of the book series: Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology ((PEPRPHPS,volume 10))

Abstract

Clients with pragmatic disorders are over-represented in the criminal justice system in comparison to the general population. Many of these disorders occur as part of conditions which are well recognised for their pragmatic impairments, including autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability and schizophrenia. Others arise as a result of conditions which are somewhat less well known in clinical pragmatics, but in which there is increasing evidence of impairment in the areas of pragmatics and discourse (e.g. non-Alzheimer’s dementias). This chapter will examine the pragmatic disorders in these clinical populations. This examination will consider a number of factors that complicate the presentation, assessment and treatment of pragmatic impairments within forensic settings. These factors include the role of co-morbid conditions such as substance use disorders, the involvement of cognitive deficits such as theory of mind impairments in pragmatic disorders and societal prejudice against incarcerated individuals. These factors limit provision of, and reduce compliance with, pragmatic language assessments and interventions.

The chapter will also address some of the implications of pragmatic disorders for the many verbally mediated interactions that defendants and inmates must comply with in the criminal justice system. These interactions include police arrest and interviews, legal examinations in courtrooms and prison rehabilitation programs which aim to reduce rates of re-offending behaviour. The specific pragmatic demands of these interactions will be considered, as will the ability of defendants and inmates with pragmatic disorders to meet these demands. Examples of the types of pragmatic skills which are integral to these interactions will be examined. The chapter concludes by arguing for an improved level of clinical language services with a focus on pragmatic language skills in prisons and other correctional facilities. It is contended that the substantial investment, which would be needed to achieve this improvement, would be offset by significant gains in the rehabilitation outcomes of incarcerated adults and young people.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The reader is referred to Cummings (2007, 2012b) for a clinical pragmatic examination of context.

  2. 2.

    False belief tests have become the standard means of testing ToM skills. In a false belief test, a story is enacted through the use of two dolls. (These tests have become known as Sally-Anne experiments on account of the names of the dolls first used in these experiments.) Children observe a scenario in which one doll (Sally) switches the location of an object that is subsequently requested by the other doll (Anne). Importantly, Anne is unaware that this switch has been made and believes that the object is still in the original location where she placed it. The child who appreciates that Anne now has a false belief about the location of the object, a false belief that leads her to search for the object in its original location, is said to have passed the test. This child is aware that other agents (represented here by the doll Anne) can have beliefs that differ from his or her own.

  3. 3.

    Storytelling is somewhat restricted in the pragmatic language forms it can elicit from respondents. See Cummings (2016c) for further discussion of this point in relation to reported speech.

  4. 4.

    It is argued in Cummings (2012c) that many of these diagnostic criteria are pragmatic in nature.

  5. 5.

    Although this prevalence rate is based on prisoner self-report, there is evidence of reliable reporting of TBI by prisoners (Schofield et al. 2011).

  6. 6.

    Although it is true to say that these actors in the criminal justice system are largely unaware of the communicative challenges of clients with pragmatic and language disorders, there is also evidence of insight into the harmful consequences of these disorders on the part of some of these professionals. Comments made in 2006 by Lord Ramsbotham, the then Chief Inspector of Prisons in the UK, reveal this to be true of at least one prison governor: ‘When I went to the young offender establishment at Polmont I was walking with the governor, who told me that if, by some mischance, he had to get rid of all his staff, the last one out of the gate would be his speech and language therapist’.

  7. 7.

    ISSP is a community sentence given by the Courts in England and Wales to young people who are classified as persistent and prolific offenders.

  8. 8.

    The Ministry of Justice in the UK hosts advice on how to write a letter of apology which has been prepared by Graham Doubleday (2012) of the Wigan Youth Offending Team. It is typical of the advice offered by justice ministries in other developed countries.

  9. 9.

    This recommendation followed oral evidence by Professor Karen Bryan to the Committee on 16 October 2012. In her evidence, Professor Bryan reported that of 157 youth offending community services in England and Wales, only 15 had access to speech and language therapy. Only 3 of 11 young offenders institutions have access to a SLT service. The situation is little better in Scotland. In a scoping exercise examining SLT activity in the Scottish criminal justice system during 2010 and up to the end of November 2011, Clark et al. (2012) reported that there was only one dedicated SLT service. This was based at Her Majesty’s Young Offender Institution Polmont and Her Majesty’s Prison Cornton, and was only for 21 h per week.

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  1. School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Louise Cummings

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  1. Department of “Cesare Beccaria” Section of Philosophy of Law, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Francesca Poggi

  2. Department of Humanities, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Alessandro Capone

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Cummings, L. (2017). Pragmatic Disorders in Forensic Settings. In: Poggi, F., Capone, A. (eds) Pragmatics and Law. Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44601-1_14

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