Criminal Justice and People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
People with IDD are swept into the justice system as both victims and offenders, and science has yet to build the basic screening and support tools BCBAs could use every day.
01Research in Context
What this study did
A 2024 conference brought together police, lawyers, clinicians, and self-advocates with IDD.
They mapped every gap in research on victimization and offending for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
The group voted on the most urgent next steps for science and practice.
What they found
People with IDD show up twice as often in the justice system as victims and as offenders.
We still lack basic counts, risk screens, or support plans for this group.
Substance use, poor communication access, and unsafe relationships top the danger list.
How this fits with other research
Eldridge et al. (2025) show California has almost no drug treatment shaped for clients with IDD. That gap feeds the offending side the 2024 agenda flags.
Smith et al. (2020) found 58 % of adults with ID struggle to explain events. Without communication aids, police interviews and court testimony risk error and re-traumatization.
Dudley et al. (2019) reveal U.S. health data already undercount people with IDD. The new agenda warns the same blind spot hides victimization rates in police records.
Zwiya et al. (2023) push for participatory research run by disabled adults. The 2024 roadmap echoes that call, asking for studies led by people with IDD who have lived justice experience.
Why it matters
You can’t write a behavior plan for a probation officer who has no data. This paper gives you the list of missing tools—simple abuse screeners, picture-based consent forms, and linked health-justice data sets. Push your regional center or county jail to pilot one item from the list. Start with a 5-question victim screen at intake; it takes 3 minutes and could reroute someone from lock-up to support.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are overrepresented in the criminal justice system both as victims/survivors and as offenders. The needs and circumstances of individuals from underserved communities have received scant attention in the literature. Stakeholders met online at the 2022 State of the Science Conference on Community Living to discuss criminal justice and to identify goals for research involving people with IDD. The group focused more on victimization and less on offenders. Victimization issues examined included prevalence, people from underserved communities, sexual victimization, consequences of victimization, victim compensation, prevention, and risk reduction. Issues regarding offenders included prevalence, people from underserved communities, and competency to stand trial. Future directions are proposed for research on victimization and on offenders.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2024 · doi:10.1108/JIDOB-09-2015-0028