NCJ Number
134112
Date Published
1991
Length
122 pages
Annotation
Using several cases involving people with mental retardation or other developmental disabilities, this analysis considers the problems experienced when people with these disabilities are arrested and accused of crimes and argues that they often receive discriminatory treatment and are falsely convicted and punished.
Abstract
Police and other criminal justice personnel often misunderstand the responses that people with developmental disabilities make to them. Their characteristics often include an inordinate desire to please authority figures, an inability to abstract from concrete thought, observation of interrogators for clues regarding responses, a longing for friends, a pleasant facade, abhorrence of the term "mental retardation," memory gaps, impaired judgment, and problems with receptive and expressive language. In addition, they often lack understanding of rights, court proceedings, or punishment. Therefore, they may confess to crimes they did not commit and have even received sentences of capital punishment. Their cases raise issues regarding the right to counsel, competency to stand trial, the insanity defense, and capital punishment. Photograph and 114 references