Need for a Holistic Approach to Analysis and Treatment of the Black Mentally Retarded Offender (From Black Mentally Retarded Offender - A Holistic Approach to Prevention and Habilitation, P 3-13, 1982, Aminifu R Harvey and Terry L Carr - ed. - See NCJ-92487)

• NCJ Number: 92488
• Author(s): A R Harvey; T L Carr
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 12 pages
• Corporate Author: United Church of Christ
• Sale Source: United Church of Christ
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Intellectual deficiencies and social maladjustment result from variable social, biological, cultural, and psychological influences disproportionately experienced by blacks, and remedies must derive from a holistic upgrading of the black experience.

Abstract

Measures of mental retardation are generally biased against blacks. The two most commonly used I.Q. tests are the Weschsler Intelligence Test and the Stanford-Binet. Both are pseudoscientific instruments which contribute to a racist society's neglect of an oppressed group by labeling them 'slow learners' or 'educationally mentally retarded.' Further, in the American corrections system, two-thirds of those labeled retarded offenders are black, which affects the sentencing options made available to them (community-based alternatives are generally limited to persons measured as having higher intelligence and proficiency in social adjustment). Manifestations of intellectual deficiency and social maladjustment as measured by culturally biased instruments inevitably reinforce the oppression of blacks which in turn fuels all the influences that hinder the development of normative behavior. Research indicates that poor functional performance can be traced to a host of environmental, social, and psychological factors, including stress, poor nutrition, emotional deprivation, chemical imbalance, and negative social reinforcement. Blacks are disproportionately subjected to a myriad of debilitating influences in all these areas. Thirty-one references are provided.