Abstract
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was ratified in Norway, June 2013. Nordic countries are generally associated with the promotion of human rights as well as disability rights. The Rule of Law Index from the World Justice Project ranks the Nordic countries among the top nations when it comes to high standards of justice (both civil and criminal justice) and rule of law. However, there are also well-known examples of grave miscarriages of justice in cases where disabled people have been involved. These cases address issues of access to justice and questions barriers to effective communication in criminal justice. Taking the situation of deaf people in Norway as a case, this study asks what barriers deaf people face when reporting a crime, being accused of a crime or being a witness in court. The methodological approach is semi-structured, open-ended interviews with deaf persons, professional sign language interpreters, judges, prosecutors, police officers and lawyers. All the info...
Highlights
This paper takes as its point of departure the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), Articles 12 and 13 which states equal recognition before the law and access to justice for persons with disabilities (United Nations 2006)
The other issue concerns questions and dilemmas relating to language, understanding and interpretation when deaf people interact with the criminal justice system as victims or suspects/offenders
Norway is generally associated with high standards in the rule of law, as well as a highly professionalized and accessible sign language interpreter service
Summary
This paper takes as its point of departure the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), Articles 12 and 13 which states equal recognition before the law and access to justice for persons with disabilities (United Nations 2006). Even if these basic principles may seem self-evident in a modern state governed by law, we argue here that this is not the case. This seeming paradox makes it relevant to take a closer look at the situation for disabled people in encounters with the criminal justice system
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