{"id":3703,"date":"2024-11-20T14:08:54","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T14:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/fasd\/?post_type=meet-the-team&p=3703"},"modified":"2026-07-31T14:40:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T13:40:22","slug":"uzma-naseem","status":"publish","type":"meet-the-team","link":"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/fasd\/meet-the-team\/uzma-naseem\/","title":{"rendered":"Uzma Naseem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\"Uzma<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Honorary Research Fellow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My research investigates the psychosocial factors that may provide the context of vulnerability for those with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) to become engaged in harmful sexual behaviours or sexual offending. It also explores the experiences of individuals with FASD and their families who have encountered the welfare or criminal justice system in England and Wales in relation these behaviours; and further seeks to understand the awareness of FASD amongst welfare and criminal justice professionals. My passion for this research stems from my professional background as a lawyer and my lived experience of a caregiver of a child with FASD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parental alcohol exposure can lead to a range of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes affecting multiple domains of functioning, including physical, mental, cognitive, emotional, behavioural and social communication, which can become more complex as a person ages. Compounding these difficulties, it is documented that individuals with FASD experience extremely high rates of early life adversity, including high rates of abuse and neglect as well as caregiver instability. This \u2018double jeopardy\u2019 of risk factors of biology and environment can lead to greater adverse outcomes including a high prevalence of mental health problems, disrupted school experience and harmful sexual behaviours – an individual with FASD is 19 times more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system (Popova et al., 2011).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This high prevalence of those with FASD in forensic settings and the reported neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities of those with FASD present significant challenges in the criminal legal context. As those with FASD have impaired inhibition, high impulsivity, as well as difficulty appropriately weighing decisions and learning from past failures, risky behaviours and repetitive offending patterns are often reported in this population (Mela, 2016). Those with FASD have also been shown to have social skills and emotional deficits including in relationships (Olson et al., 1998), poor social judgment and these socialisation and communication difficulties amplify through adolescence rather than improve (Crocker et al., 2009; Fagerlund et al., 2012; Sakano et al., 2019). These impairments can combine with other factors such as sexual naivety, poor understanding of boundaries and consent, impaired theory of mind (understanding and empathising with others\u2019 views) as well as increased levels of suggestibility to lead to harmful sexual behaviours. Indeed, those with FASD are often on both sides of these behaviours, with high rates of both sexual victimisation and sexual offending reported (Clark et al., 2004; Freunscht & Feldmann, 2011; Streissguth et al., 2004).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope that increasing the awareness of vulnerabilities that may lead to these behaviours will lead to greater understanding by families, communities and professionals and better outcomes for those with FASD. The vulnerabilities of those with FASD and their pathway to sexual offending must be researched in order to inform appropriate prevention strategies; to ensure relevant factors are considered during the legal process, including decisions to charge or convict as well as during sentencing and mitigation; and to inform appropriate treatments\/interventions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Honorary Research Fellow My research investigates the psychosocial factors that may provide the context of vulnerability for those with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) to become engaged in harmful sexual behaviours or sexual offending. It also explores the experiences of individuals with FASD and their families who have encountered the welfare or criminal justice system […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3473,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3703","meet-the-team","type-meet-the-team","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUzma Naseem | FASD | University of Salford<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Uzma Naseem is furthering FASD research at the University of Salford in the area of the criminal justice system.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/fasd\/meet-the-team\/uzma-naseem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Uzma Naseem | FASD | University of Salford\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Uzma Naseem is furthering FASD research at the University of Salford in the area of the criminal justice system.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/fasd\/meet-the-team\/uzma-naseem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FASD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-31T13:40:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/fasd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/201\/2023\/10\/UN-PHOTO-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2449\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1632\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"WebPage\",\"ProfilePage\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/meet-the-team\\\/uzma-naseem\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/meet-the-team\\\/uzma-naseem\\\/\",\"name\":\"Uzma Naseem | FASD | University of Salford\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/meet-the-team\\\/uzma-naseem\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/meet-the-team\\\/uzma-naseem\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/201\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/UN-PHOTO-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-20T14:08:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-31T13:40:22+00:00\",\"description\":\"Uzma Naseem is furthering FASD research at the University of Salford in the area of the criminal justice system.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/meet-the-team\\\/uzma-naseem\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/meet-the-team\\\/uzma-naseem\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/meet-the-team\\\/uzma-naseem\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/201\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/UN-PHOTO-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/201\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/UN-PHOTO-1.jpg\",\"width\":2449,\"height\":1632,\"caption\":\"Uzma Naseem.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/meet-the-team\\\/uzma-naseem\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Uzma Naseem\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hub.salford.ac.uk\\\/fasd\\\/\",\"name\":\"Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders - 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