Disabling criminology: conceptualising the intersections of critical disability studies and critical criminology for people with mental health and cognitive disabilities in the criminal justice system

Abstract

Increasing numbers of people with mental health disorders and cognitive disabilities (MHD&CD) are becoming caught in a cycle of social exclusion and criminalisation, resulting in their incarceration and re-incarceration in the criminal justice system. Our capacity to conceptualise and protect the human rights of such people, although recognised in a range of instruments, is questionable. Their over-representation in the criminal justice system constitutes a complex human, social and economic problem and suggests the need to move beyond traditional theoretical approaches which examine social support systems, processes of criminal justice and the presence of impairment as separate issues. This article reflects on issues raised in a study investigating the pathways people with MHD&CD take through the criminal justice system and is aimed at describing and analysing the interactions among the criminal justice subsystems and associated human services using detailed records of a cohort (around 2800) of those already diagnosed in the criminal justice system. The outcomes will assist in the development of new interventions to address preventive health, duty of care and human rights. Early analysis of the data in the MHD&CD in the criminal justice system study indicates that individual experiences of impairment and social disadvantage are powerfully amplified when they intersect with exclusionary practices within social, systemic, community and institutional spaces. These findings suggest the need to develop a hybrid interdisciplinary theoretical perspective merging critical disability studies and critical criminology to open up new spaces from which to reconsider the complex matrix of concerns impacting upon this group's enjoyment of their rights.