From The Economist Leaders: For Complete Post, Click Here…
Aknock on the head can change the course of a whole life. Traumatic brain injuries affect around one in ten people in rich countries. Those who have experienced such injuries are more likely to suffer mental-health problems and loneliness. They are more likely to struggle with addiction to drink or drugs, or to be homeless. They are also more likely to commit crimes, including violent ones, although most do not. Estimates vary, but they consistently show that people in prison are many times more likely to have brain injuries.
Those whose brains are not “neurotypical” in other ways also make up an extraordinarily large share of the prison population. People with learning difficulties, intellectual disabilities and autism are all over-represented behind bars. In Canada young people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which is the result of exposure to alcohol in the womb and which damages the brain’s frontal lobe, are incarcerated at 19 times the rate of the wider population.
more help is needed for those who suffer them. Most important such injuries need to be identified earlier, especially in children, and teenagers. Hospitals need to try harder to spot and report brain trauma in children who show up with other injuries, and to ensure that they receive follow-up care. In the most neglected schoolchildren, screening might catch injuries. Once identified, they can be treated—sometimes with medication (such as stimulants for cognitive functioning and fatigue), most often with neuro-rehabilitation. Physical, speech and occupational therapies can help people to regain lost functions, learn new skills and overcome difficulties with attention and impulse control. Psychological support can help them control their emotions.
And those who end up in prison need help turning their lives around.
