I chose to watch a TED Talk called “The Surprising
Connection between Brain Injuries and Crime;” the speaker was Kim Gorgens. I
chose this video because the title caught my attention, and I was curious to
see the relationship between Traumatic Brain Injuries and the people in the
criminal justice system. To further my knowledge while watching, I took notes
to stay actively engaged and tried to think of ways it could apply to the Neuro
Aspects course, as well as occupational therapy in general.
In the video, the lecturer stated that “50 to
80 percent of people in criminal justice have a traumatic brain injury,” which
is much more than the “less than five percent” the general public population
has. Furthermore, she discussed that the rates are even higher in women in the
criminal justice system, especially repeated brain injuries. I learned that the
criminal justice system is often a recurrent step in an ongoing cycle for
people with TBIs. For instance, once someone is released, they may be on probation
and need to attend various court dates and appointments, however they do not.
Because of this, they end up back in jail, and keep repeating the cycle. The
lecturer brought up an interesting point that due to the high rates of TBIs,
many of these individuals could be experiencing deficits that could making
memorizing dates and staying organized difficult. In her research, her and her
colleagues conducted neuropsychological test on inmates who have sustained TBIs
to identify their strengths and weaknesses. After this, they completed
recommendations for the people interacting with the inmates, like correctional
officers, and strategies for the inmates on how to best manage their condition.
The examples that she gave included recommendations for the courts to provide
handouts for people who have auditory memory deficits, for inmates with auditory
memory deficits to keep a notebook to write things in, having released inmates
with organizational and memory deficits use reminders on their phone and for
inmates with organizational deficits to break down tasks into smaller steps to
make completing the task more attainable.
All of these recommendations remind me of what
many occupational therapists might do with clients who have sustained a TBI. Considering
this, I see a role that occupational therapists could have in the criminal
justice setting! Helping inmates become more rehabilitated not only prevents the
likelihood of them ending up back in jail, but allows them to reintegrate into
the public – finding stable jobs, being with their family, etc. I believe that
this is not only good for the inmates, but for society as a whole.
Bearing in mind the deficits we’ve discussed in class related to TBIs and
the different lobes of the brain’s function, it makes sense that these inmates
are experiencing these difficulties. For instance, someone with damage to their
frontal lobe could experience problems with impulse control; helping them find
strategies to manage this could increase their likelihood of a successful reintegration
into society. Like many of the examples listed, memory deficits could be
another area for improvement; damage to the temporal lobe could likely be the
source of the deficit.
I would definitely recommend this
video to others because it is engaging and informative. Additionally, it opens
up your mind to the possibilities of improvement in the criminal justice system
and what we can do about it as a society and as occupational therapists!
A hyperlink to the video is provided
here: https://www.ted.com/talks/kim_gorgens_the_surprising_connection_between_brain_injuries_and_crime#t-689738
Reference
Gorgens, K. (2018, June). The surprising
connection between brain injuries and crime [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/kim_gorgens_the_surprising_connection_between_brain_injuries_and_crime#t-689738
