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Dealing with low IQ delinquents

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When a court is faced with a young offender who has some intellectual disability but is not of unsound mind, the sentencing options are "limited".

A High Court judge raised this last week when dealing with a teenage boy of low intellect who had committed rape at 14. The boy, who has a full-scale IQ of 61, was raised in a single-parent family that survives mainly on handouts. He failed his PSLE twice, and his score was the lowest in the country.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 20, 2018, with the headline Dealing with low IQ delinquents. Subscribe