Disability, Criminal Justice and Law: Reconsidering Court Diversion

This book examines the legal frameworks for court diversion and argues that they perpetuate disability oppression,facilitating criminalisation,control,and punishment of disabled people who are not sentenced or convicted of any criminal offences. It suggests that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities cannot address the complexities of court diversion and proposes theoretical and practical strategies for a more progressive and just socio-legal order.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 266 pages
Publication date: 13 December 2021
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book delves into the intricate relationship between legal frameworks for court diversion and the perpetuation of disability oppression. Through a rigorous theoretical and empirical examination, it challenges the notion that laws play a complicit role in the debilitation of disabled people. In the post-deinstitutionalization era, the practice of diverting disabled individuals from criminal justice systems and into mental health and disability services is widely regarded as therapeutic, humane, and socially just. However, by employing Foucauldian theory of biopolitics, critical legal and political theory, and critical disability theory, Steele argues that court diversion perpetuates disability oppression.

Firstly, the book highlights how court diversion can facilitate the criminalization, control, and punishment of disabled people who are not sentenced or even convicted of any criminal offenses. This phenomenon contributes to the longstanding practice of disability-specific coercive intervention, legitimizes prison incarceration, and reinforces the boundaries of foundational legal concepts such as jurisdiction, legal personhood, and sovereignty. Steele demonstrates that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) fails to adequately address the complexities of court diversion, rendering it of limited use in challenging carceral control and legal and settler colonial violence.

Secondly, the book offers new insights into the complex relationships between disability, criminal justice, and law. It challenges the dominant narratives that portray disability as a problem that needs to be managed or cured through legal intervention. Instead, Steele proposes a re-imagining of a more progressive and just socio-legal order that recognizes the inherent dignity and rights of disabled people. The book provides theoretical and practical strategies that contribute to this re-imagining, including the development of alternative legal frameworks, the promotion of disability-inclusive policies, and the empowerment of disabled individuals and communities.

Thirdly, the book has broad appeal to scholars and students of disability law, criminal law, medical law, socio-legal studies, disability studies, social work, and criminology. It offers valuable insights into the intersection of disability, justice, and law, and provides a framework for understanding and addressing the systemic barriers that perpetuate disability oppression. Moreover, the book will be of interest to disability, prisoner, and social justice activists who are working to challenge the carceral system and promote a more inclusive and equitable society.

In conclusion, this book is a groundbreaking contribution to the field of disability studies and law. It challenges the dominant narratives that perpetuate disability oppression and offers new ways to understand and challenge the legal and political systems that perpetuate this injustice. Through its rigorous analysis and innovative proposals, the book contributes to the development of a wider re-imagining of a more progressive and just socio-legal order that recognizes the inherent dignity and rights of disabled people.

Weight: 422g
Dimension: 153 x 235 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367498078