Disability Justice Service Presentation to Swan Rotary Club Friday 14 February 2014

1. Disability Justice Service Presentation to Swan Rotary Club Friday 14 February 2014

2. Who is Developmental Disability WA • Non-government, not-for-profit organisation • Over 25 years as peak advocacy voice for people with developmental disability, their families and the organisations that support them • Developmental disability - a disability a person is born with or which occurs during their developmental years

3. Who is Developmental Disability WA • Developmental Disability WA creates lasting positive change by: • Supporting people with developmental disabilities and their families to have a strong voice • Influencing government and other decision makers • Partnering with others to develop more connected and inclusive communities

4. Overview • Intellectual disability and the criminal justice system • Mental Impaired Accused Act– why the disability justice centres • Key features of the centres • Benefits of this approach

5. Intellectual disability and the criminal justice system • People with intellectual or cognitive disability are over-represented in criminal justice system • Their disability is not the cause of their offending – literacy, homelessness, co-morbid psychiatric illness, unemployment, lack of family and social supports • Failure to respond to these factors increases risk of recidivism

6. MIA – Why the disability justice centres? • Mental Impaired Accused • unable to understand the nature of the charge; • unable to understand the requirement to plead to the charge or the effect of a plea; • unable to understand the purpose of a trial; • unable to understand or exercise the right to challenge jurors; • unable to follow the course of the trial; • unable to understand the substantial effect of evidence presented by the prosecution in the trial; or • unable to properly defend the charge.

7. MIA – Why the disability justice centres? • WA Law Reform Commission (1991) • Reed report (1992) • Criminal Law (Mental Impaired Accused) Act 1996 authorises MIA Review Board to determine conditions • Unconditional release • Detention in an authorised hospital • Detention in a declared place • Detention in a prison

8. MIA – Why the disability justice centres? • Disability justice centres – the missing link in a treatment pathway for people with intellectual and cognitive disability • Provides an option in between prison and non-conditional release • Services and supports that address individual factors contributing to offending in a safe environment and the opportunity for supported transitions that reduce future offending and therefore lead to better outcomes

9. MIA – Why the disability justice centres? • MIA persons must demonstrate that they are unlikely to reoffend • Fitness to return to the community is assessed by MIA Review Board • People must demonstrate appropriate behaviours in community based settings – they can only learn and demonstrate these if they are able to spend times in community based settings

10. Disability justice centres – key features • Who will be placed in the centres • Found by court to be mental impaired accused • Must be 16 years or over • Mental impairment must be due to intellectual or cognitive disability • MIA Review Board will determine whether a mental impaired accused person can live at a centre (Disability Justice Centres: Safeguarding the community)

11. Benefits of this approach • Community-based settings ‘best practice’ in the successful and effective support for people with intellectual and cognitive disability who have offended • Model prioritises community safety and proactively manages potential risk to residents and to community