Perceptions of the judiciary and intellectual disability

Abstract

People with intellectual disability are a group who experience negative stereotyping and who often have major skill and reasoning deficits resulting from their disability. These characteristics make them vulnerable when coming into contact with the law, and there is evidence that they are over-represented in the criminal justice system. There are several explanations for this over-representation, with the perceptions and beliefs of criminal justice system personnel likely to be influential. A sample of Supreme Court Judges, District Court Judges and Magistrates was interviewed to examine their perceptions and beliefs in relation to explanations of over-representation, with the interviews followed up by a questionnaire. It was found that the members of the judiciary saw people with intellectual disability as having several characteristics which would disadvantage them when in contact with the law and they were supportive of measures to ameliorate the disadvantage.