BIROn - Birkbeck Institutional Research Online

    Adult defendants with learning disabilities and the criminal courts

    Talbot, J. and Jacobson, Jessica (2010) Adult defendants with learning disabilities and the criminal courts. Journal of Learning Disabilities and Offending Behaviour 1 (2), pp. 16-26. ISSN 2042-0927.

    Full text not available from this repository.

    Abstract

    Although precise numbers are unknown, it is generally acknowledged that between 5-10% of the offending population are people with learning disabilities. While there are few provisions that explicitly target defendants with learning disabilities there is a general recognition in law that defendants must be able to understand and participate effectively in the criminal proceedings of which they are a part. The implications of the principle of effective participation are that criminal prosecution may be deemed inappropriate for certain defendants with learning disabilities, in which case they may be diverted away from criminal justice and into health care. There is scope for a variety of measures to be put into place to support defendants with learning disabilities to maximise their chances of participating effectively. However, in terms of statutory provision, there is a lack of parity between vulnerable witnesses and vulnerable defendants. Further, the absence of effective screening procedures to identify defendants' learning disabilities means that their support needs often go unrecognised and unmet.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): No One Knows, Courts, Criminal, Defendant, Intellectual disability, Learning disabilities, Offenders, Prisoners
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences
    Research Centres and Institutes: Crime & Justice Policy Research, Institute for
    Depositing User: Administrator
    Date Deposited: 13 Nov 2012 15:23
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:00
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/5678

    Statistics

    Activity Overview
    6 month trend
    0Downloads
    6 month trend
    368Hits

    Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.

    Archive Staff Only (login required)

    Edit/View Item Edit/View Item