Justice Matters - Council for Intellectual Disability

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Nobody wants to get into trouble with the law. But it happens.

Justen: “I was homeless and I started to get fines for sleeping on trains. I was never able to pay my fines and it escalated to a big issue where I was getting locked up for fines.”

Taylor: “I was hanging around with wrong crowd, doing drugs, illegal things. I didn’t really know right from wrong. I was incarcerated once for 3 months.”

Geoffrey “I was falsely arrested at age 15. From then on it was a rollercoaster. I was always fearful of the police, terrified every time they approached. That led to me resenting them and to getting arrested quite often.”

It's tough in the justice system if you have a cognitive disability whether you are a victim of crime or been accused of a crime. It can be even tougher for Indigenous Australians with cognitive disability.

Justen: “I am an Aboriginal man. My childhood abuse led to my having seizures and brain mis-functions. I couldn’t think. I have trouble thinking because that was the damage that has been done to me.”

Taylor: “I suffer from autism and I struggle with reading and writing. It affects me pretty much every day – my anxiety does, my autism can be pretty bad some days.”

Geoffrey: “I fell off a roof and was left with brain damage. I also have ADD, suicidal ideation and chronic depression. I am an Aboriginal man.”

If you have an intellectual disability or another cognitive disability like autism or acquired brain injury then you need specialist support if you come into contact with the police and the courts.

The Justice Advocacy Service (JAS), run by the Intellectual Disability Rights Service (IDRS) provides support to people with cognitive disability who are victims of crime, witnesses or accused of crimes. JAS helps people understand what is happening and how to exercise their rights.

For three years until June 2020, IDRS also ran the Cognitive Impairment Diversion Programme (CIDP) in two courts. This programme went a step further than JAS. It worked really well to link people into the supports they needed for a good life and to keep them out of trouble with the law. This meant magistrates did not need to punish people and send them to jail.

Justen: “I started getting help (from Youth Shopfront, then IDRS) and was diagnosed with my disability and getting the treatment I should have had years ago when I was a kid. Getting the right help turned my life around. It means belonging somewhere. I haven’t been in prison now since 2004... and I don’t intend to go back either."

Taylor: “Since Michael (IDRS worker) there’s been a whole new change and it’s great. My life’s a lot better. My family and also me - think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened.”

Geoffrey: Without the support and help of IDRS Geoffrey says that he would likely be in a psychiatric unit, in jail or homeless but instead he is working and has been recently published for his poetry.

Expert support can make all the difference. People need support in police interviews and in court. But is the NSW Government committed to providing this specialist support for people with cognitive disability?

The funding for the Justice Advocacy Service (JAS) run by the Intellectual Disability Rights Service (IDRS) ends in June this year. This is a critically important state-wide service and we call on the NSW government to confirm it will continue.

The State Government stopped funding the Cognitive Impairment Diversion Programme (CIDP) in June 2020. However, the Department of Communities and Justice recognises the importance of a programme like the CIDP and the value of extending it to more courts. Now we need them to act on this.

In the June 2021 budget, we want a guarantee that the JAS programme will continue and a commitment from the NSW government to roll out a state-wide diversion programme like the CIDP.

An ongoing state-wide JAS and a new state-wide diversion programme will mean that people with cognitive disability will have a fair go as victims, witnesses or people accused of crimes. There will be less offending and less people with cognitive disability going to jail.

Indigenous Australians will get more of a fair go. Over 25% of the clients of the Justice Advocacy Service and CIDP have been Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders.

Media

Justice support scheme for cognitively impaired youth and adults at risk, The Sydney Morning Herald.

Government relied on limited cost benefit analysis in axing diversion program 20210, The Sydney Morning Herald.

Disability Royal Commission: Former prisoners with disabilities seek to end the cycle, The Canberra Times.

People with cognitive disability face loss of justice system support, ProBonno Australia

NSW pledges $28 million to help cognitively impaired people navigate justice system, The Sydney Morning Herald

Disability legal service extended in NSW, ABC NewsRadio.

More ways you can help

Call your MP

Email and/or phone the NSW Attorney General, Mark Speakman and ask him to fund the two programmes. Contact details and a lobbying guide are here.
Postcard signatures

Collect postcard signatures to send to Mark Speakman’s office. Email us at advocacy@cid.org.au and tell us how many postcards you want us to send you.
Tell others

Share our campaign on Facebook, Twitter or your preferred social media using the sharing buttons on this page.

Sign the petition

The Justice Matters campaign collaborators:

CID, IDRS, FPDN and JRI logos.

References. Data on this page come from:

* NSW Law Reform Commission – People with Cognitive and Mental Health Impairments in

the Criminal Justice System, Diversion, 2012

* IDRS annual report 2019-2020

Campaign News

News from our campaign Justice Matters

JAS, a critically important program for people with cognitive disability

Jim Simpson, senior advocate at CID, explains why JAS is critically important for people with cognitive disability.

The Cognitive Impairment Diversion Program changes lives and keeps people out of jail.

Jim Simpson, senior advocate at CID, talks about the need for a diversion program that complements JAS: The…

The Government has closed down the Cognitive Impairment Diversion Program but our campaign will continue!

The CIDP has lost its funding but we'll fight on.

See all our stories

We won the Justice Matters campaign!