NCJ Number
69607
Date Published
1973
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The report summarizes a project conducted in five Pennsylvania counties to develop a program to train police, judicial, and community groups in dealing with mentally retarded citizens.
Abstract
Under the terms of a 1-year grant from the Governor's Justice Commission in 1972, the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens was charged with developing a curriculum and training manual that could be used with groups of at least 300 participants to discuss the special needs and characteristics of the mentally retarded, along with problems they experience in confrontations with the judicial system. A curriculum was devised with two distinct programs: an informative seminar for police, probation officers, and community leaders, and a program for lawyers and court personnel which emphasized legal issues. The project focused on learning disabilities of the retarded. In the seminars, police and court officials commented that they were under pressure from the community to lock up retarded offenders and that alternative facilities to jails or hospitals were slacking. Since it is difficult to extricate a mentally retarded person from the judicial process, alternatives to confrontations with the law should be developed. A manual and workbook were completed and will be distributed to volunteers interested in replicating the seminars. The periodic progress reports written by the project director are appended.