Crime Victims with Developmental Disabilities Report of a Workshop (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Criminal Justice System Responses
Criminal Justice System Responses
Pages 41-56
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From page 41... ...
But I don't think there is much question that of all societal institutions, the criminal justice system is the last to adequately respond to the special circumstances of people with developmental disabilities. This remains true whether the individual with a disability has been accused of committing a crime or is the victim of crime.
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From page 42... ...
Third, drawing on the paper by Ryken Grattet and Valerie lenness, it explores the viability of using hate crime law to protect people with disabilities. PARTICIPATION IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM People with mental retardation may be defendants in criminal cases, charged with crimes that range from simple misdemeanors to serious felonies that can subject them to life sentences without parole or even the death penalty.
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From page 43... ...
Among other things, it means that a person with disabilities is entitled to full participation on equal terms with others. A statute or practice that as a general matter prevents all people with mental retardation from testifying in court, for example, would violate this principle of presumed capacity (see, for example, State u Hendlerson, 607 So.
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From page 44... ...
App, 19931. Capacity and consent play an important part in another aspect of the criminal justice system that is particularly relevant to people with developmental disabilities who are victims of sexual assault and abuse.
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From page 45... ...
For example, the suggestibility and willingness to please of some persons with developmental disabilities counsel against some police investigatory techniques that might lead to unintentionally false testimony from the witness. Having an advocate assist the person with disabilities navigate through the criminal justice system is important, but agencies and caregivers can help by taking proactive measures to educate their clients about the criminal justice system before they become involved with it.
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From page 46... ...
The advocate is empowered to represent the person in all court proceedings; must have access to all evidence and receive copies of reports introduced in the case; must receive notice of court proceedings; and may interview witnesses and request additional examinations by doctors, psychiatrists, or psychologists. Advocates can help demystify the court process for the witness with developmental disabilities by having the person observe a court proceeding in advance of the one in which the person will be involved.
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From page 47... ...
It provides people with developmental disabilities the civil rights protections similar to the rights provided on the basis of race, sex, national origin, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for people with developmental disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunication relay services.
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From page 48... ...
The Arc of the United States has created a curriculum entitled "Understanding Mental Retardation: Training for Law Enforcement." Designed to take about three hours, it includes a video, worksheets, and handouts. The training covers such areas as understanding and identifying people with mental retardation, understanding different mental retardation syndromes, including fetal alcohol syndrome, fragile X, and Down syndrome, and understanding other disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, deafness, Tourette's syndrome, and mental illness (see http://thearc.org/ada/ crim.html)
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From page 49... ...
Critical Focus, a California training corporation, has produced a telecourse entitled "Law Enforcement Response to Persons with Developmental Disabilities," which has been certified by the State of California's Peace Officer Stanclarcls ancl Training Commission. This course specifically focuses on people with clevelopmental clisabilities ancl is designed to give law enforcement ancl correctional officers an understanding of what clevelopmental clisabilities are ancl what techniques are the best in responding to this population.
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From page 50... ...
Department of Justice, this publication makes specific policy recommendations, including increasing the accessibility of the criminal justice system through everything from architectural changes to the introduction of communication technologies; creating training measures for sensitizing law enforcement officials to the needs of people with disabilities; fostering relations with disability service and advocacy
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From page 51... ...
Several workshop participants therefore described the principles underlying hate crime statutes and then explored the connections between hate crimes and people with disabilities. C r i m i n a 1 i z a t i o n o f D i s c r i m i n a t o r y V i o l e n c e In the late 1970s and early 1980s, lawmakers throughout the United States began to respond to what they perceived to be an escalation of violence directed at minorities with a novel legal strategy: the criminalization of discriminatory violence, now commonly referred to as "hate crime." Throughout the late 1980s and into the 1990s, most state legislatures passed at least one piece of hate crime legislation; the federal government also passed three hate crime laws Jacobs and Potter, 1998; lenness, 1999; lenness and Grattet, 1996, 2000; Grattet et al., 1998; Soule and Earl, 19991.
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From page 52... ...
attorney general to collect statistical data on "crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, including where appropriate the crimes of murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape; aggravated assault, simple assault, intimidation; arson; and destruction, damage or vandalism of property." In 1994, Congress passed two more hate crime laws. The Violence Against Women Act (PL 103-322)
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From page 53... ...
Much like people of color, gays and lesbians, and women, people with disabilities constitute an identifiable sector of a larger civil rights movement in the United States (Shapiro, 19931. Every self-regarding group, however, is not an equally viable contender for inclusion in hate crime law.
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From page 54... ...
Some evidence suggests that persons with disabilities face higher rates of victimization, not because perpetrators harbor ill will toward them, but because they are in vulnerable situations. Since the invention of the term "hate crime" in the late 1970s, lawmakers and judges have increasingly agreed that the parameters of the discriminatory selection model provide the most legitimate foundation for modern hate crime law.
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From page 55... ...
Implications Hate crime laws treat people with disabilities as both "different from" and "the same as" other people by simultaneously segregating and integrating them from or into the criminal justice system. Envisioning crimes against people with disabilities as hate crimes entails according special treatment to them.
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From page 56... ...
Although some states have included disability as one of the groups in their hate crime laws, few cases have made use of it, so that special problems it may present have yet to be analyzed. Research is sparse on the effects of accommodations required by the Americans with Disabilities Act and inclusion of disability in hate crime legislation.
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