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Women, Disability, and the Justice System: Training for Law Enforcement and the Courts
Overview
Research suggests that individuals with disabilities face a 4 to 10 times greater risk of being victims of crime. Women with disabilities, especially those who are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, encounter a justice system whose personnel lack the knowledge and understanding about the individual's disability and how to provide needed accommodations. This lack of knowledge creates barriers that frustrate victims with disability and discourages open access to the resources of a justice system that is willing and able to protect them.
Major Activities
The Partnership for People with Disabilities at Virginia Commonwealth University, in collaboration with the groups Virginians Against Domestic Violence and Virginians Aligned Against Sexual Assault, seek to minimize these barriers by training law enforcement (police) and court personnel (judges, magistrates, prosecutors) to increase access to women with disabilities who are victims of violent crimes. Thus, the goals of this project include:
- To increase the responsiveness of the justice system to the needs of individuals, especially women, with disabilities who are victims of violent crimes by (1) convening a diverse, invested stakeholder advisory board, and (2) developing a statewide action agenda.
- To increase the knowledge, skills, and abilities of law enforcement and the courts
concerning the (1) recognition of victimization of individuals, especially women, with disabilities; (2) barriers encountered by individuals with disabilities as they access the justice system; and (3) approaches and resources required to accommodate an individual's disability through regional training (150 individuals and 6, 2-day training sessions) using a field-tested curriculum and 60 hours of technical assistance following training.
- To enhance sustainability beyond discretionary funding by preparing and disseminating products, and by awarding continuing education credit through stakeholder organizations for certified training.
Project Staff
Linda Harris, Betty Harrell, and Connie Kvarfordt
Contact
For more information on the Women, Disability and the Justice System project, please contact Linda Harris at 804-828-6926 or lwharris2@vcu.edu |