Exploring the autistic and police perspectives of the custody process through a participative walkthrough

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Holloway, C. A., Munro, N., Jackson, J., Phillips, S., & Ropar, D. (2019). Exploring the autistic and police perspectives of the custody process through a participative walkthrough. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 97, 103545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103545

Publication date: 4 Dec 2019 Added to AutiHub: 12 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 5 (20.0%)
  1. Chloe Alice Holloway
  2. Nell Munro
  3. John Jackson
  4. Sophie Phillips *
  5. Danielle Ropar

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Research suggests that autistic individuals may be more likely to come into contact with police and have more negative experiences in police custody. However, limited information about the difficulties they experience during the custody process is available. AIMS: This study explores the experiences of autistic individuals and officers during a walkthrough of the custody process to identify specific difficulties in these encounters and what support is needed to overcome these. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A participative walkthrough method was developed to provide autistic individuals and officers an interactive opportunity to identify areas where further support in the custody process was needed. Two autistic participants and three officers took part in the study. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Autistic participants reported negative experiences due to: i) the emotional impact of the physical setting and custody process ii) communication barriers leading to increased anxiety and iii) exposure to sensory demands. Officers highlighted three factors which limit their ability to support autistic individuals effectively: i) the custody context ii) barriers to communication and iii) knowledge and understanding of autism. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Adjustments are needed to the custody process and environment to support interactions between autistic individuals and officers and improve the overall wellbeing of autistic individuals.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 14:05.

Cited references
27
With a DOI
20
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
5
5 / 27 (18.5%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 27 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
27 / 27 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
2
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
92
From DOI or external metadata
92
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
33 / 92 (35.9%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 59 / 92 (64.1%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
8 / 92 (8.7%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 8 / 33 (24.2%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 7 / 89 (7.9%).
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