Research in the field of gifted education points to a notable lack of challenges in the educational trajectories of gifted people (Sims 2023). Consequently, some people find their own challenges through application of positive character traits such as ingenuity, determination, and self-motivation. Some of the time these solutions are within the boundaries of the legal system - at other times not. Biographical accounts indicate there can be a thin line between the two. 

In earlier criminological research, low intelligence has been described as a risk factor for criminality, along with socio-economic hardship and lack of integration (Ttofi et al. 2016, Gath et al. 1971, Mahoney, 1980). However, there are indications that such a perspective needs widening. In a survey to more than 4000 inmates, examples have been found of how ‘geniuses’ were drawn to criminality to seek stimulation away from ’intolerable boredom’ (Oleson, 2016). In addition, Feldman (1993) notes how IQ-levels tend to increase as: ”we move away from street crimes to organised crime and corporate crime”. Similarly, Rostami (2024) states that educated people can be found within organised crime networks who use their strong leadership, organisational and/or technical abilities for criminal purposes. A relevant question, therefore, is what is the role of education, seen as a risk factor, in causing a gifted person to become a criminal. Subsequently, how can education promote resilience against this process, and what role can education play in rehabilitation. 

With the aim of furthering research in this area, the current presentation is based on the first in a series of studies in a newly developed research project in collaboration between pedagogy and criminology (CaSH)[1]. The content of the presentation is based on a policy analysis of documents regulating educational options for people in Swedish prisons and what these could mean for a person who is not only a criminal but also gifted.

The results show that once imprisoned, inmates can be offered further, or even higher education, as part of their rehabilitation treatment. In summary, the findings indicate there is a lack in continuity, lack of access and limited educational options focused on vocational tasks based on low expectations regarding ability. The key question is to what extent gifted criminals, in the process of turning their lives around, face the same failure to recognise their abilities as perhaps drove them towards criminality in the first place. 

 [1] Crime and Social Harm, an interdisciplinary research group based at the University of Gavle, Sweden lead by Dr Sara Waller Skoog and professor Börje Leijdhammar.