The study focused on the occurrence of dyslexia among the convicted in the Czech Republic. On the ground of plentiful research results from various countries that refer to a connection between dyslexia and criminality, a research was conducted in Czech penitentiary environment (specifically the Horní Slavkov prison).
The research sample comprised of 113 respondents aged 22 - 65 in the first round of data collection. All respondents met the research criteria: Czech citizenship, Czech nationality and Czech as a mother tongue.
The data were collected via the Raven's standard progressive matrixes, personal questionnaire, interview, assessment battery including tests on specific learning disabilities among adolescents and adults and a rapid naming test. The research results have proven a several times higher occurrence of dyslexia among the sample population than in common population, which is 34 % dyslexic individuals in the sample.
The research results are comparable to research results from abroad. On top of that, up to 84 % of the respondents spontaneously demonstrated dyslexic difficulties during the interview.
Reading and writing skills in the sample are comparable to those in common population and intelligence is slightly higher than standard. The research hypothesis that there is a connection between specific criminal offences and dyslexia was not proven.