A new Government report reviews existing evidence on disabled people’s experience of and access to justice in the UK.
Below is a a summary of the findings pls a BSL version. You can read the full report here.
Summary of findings
There has been a lack of reliable statistical data about the barriers that disabled people face in accessing justice. The qualitative lived experience evidence is also limited, but it helps to fill some of these gaps.
The evidence review found that disabled people, those with long term health conditions or impairments, are over-represented among suspects, defendants or detainees in the justice system. Older prisoners are also the fastest growing subgroup in the prison estate and greater attention should be paid meeting their needs.
The criminal justice system, including its legal and rules-based norms, can be particularly difficult to navigate for people with learning difficulties, mental health conditions or neurodivergent conditions such as autism.
Male prisoners may be more fearful of disclosing a disability status, for example a hidden impairment or mental health condition, or seeking appropriate help. There remains a shortage of access to counselling and talking therapies.
There is more research about the diagnosis and cause of mental health conditions in criminal justice settings than about the experience of those who live with them.
There is a need for more research on the experience and needs of people with learning difficulties in the criminal justice system, both as victims and as perpetrators.
There are concerns about the consequence of seclusion for people on locked hospital wards.
Attention is needed to rehabilitation and resettlement programmes that meet the needs of people with intellectual and psycho-social impairments and with neurodivergent conditions such as autism.
There are unique barriers facing Deaf people at all points in the system, from contacting the police, giving evidence, or appearing in court, to prisons. These barriers are worse for those who use sign language.
There is an absence of research concerning the experience of people with physical impairments or visual impairments in the criminal justice system.
There is also a gender imbalance in the evidence base, with more studies researching the experience of male prisoners than female prisoners, and a lack of gendered comparison in study designs.
Very few studies have any analytical focus on the interaction of disability with ethnicity and race.
Overall, there remains more experiential evidence about disabling barriers than about enabling solutions.