Equal Access to Justice in a Rural Western State

Twenty three inmates from a rural state penitentiary with mental retardation participated in a study on the differential treatment of persons with mental retardation by the criminal justice system. After obtaining informed consent, the inmates were screened for appropriateness for the study using...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Monte Miller
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Indiana University School of Social Work 2004-12-01
Series:	Advances in Social Work
Subjects:	Disabilities mental retardation rural social justice advocacy criminal justice
Online Access:	https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/69

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spelling	doaj-2ac3deebd6ce4f969a29d5bda0380f2e2020-11-24T23:54:05ZengIndiana University School of Social WorkAdvances in Social Work1527-85652331-41252004-12-015221022459Equal Access to Justice in a Rural Western StateMonte MillerTwenty three inmates from a rural state penitentiary with mental retardation participated in a study on the differential treatment of persons with mental retardation by the criminal justice system. After obtaining informed consent, the inmates were screened for appropriateness for the study using the PPVT-R, a proxy test for IQ. The inmates were interviewed to obtain a social history and given the CAST-MR, an instrument that measures the competency of a person with mental retardation to stand trial. Results suggest participants may not have been competent to stand trial, learned most of what they knew about the criminal justice system while incarcerated, and had difficulty with interpersonal conflict and conflict with authority. The combination of these factors suggests that clients in the study may have been vulnerable to being coerced into confessing to crimes they did not commit. The presence of an advocate during criminal justice system encounters may benefit persons with mental retardation.https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/69Disabilitiesmental retardationruralsocial justiceadvocacycriminal justice
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	Monte Miller
spellingShingle	Monte Miller Equal Access to Justice in a Rural Western State Advances in Social Work Disabilities mental retardation rural social justice advocacy criminal justice
author_facet	Monte Miller
author_sort	Monte Miller
title	Equal Access to Justice in a Rural Western State
title_short	Equal Access to Justice in a Rural Western State
title_full	Equal Access to Justice in a Rural Western State
title_fullStr	Equal Access to Justice in a Rural Western State
title_full_unstemmed	Equal Access to Justice in a Rural Western State
title_sort	equal access to justice in a rural western state
publisher	Indiana University School of Social Work
series	Advances in Social Work
issn	1527-8565 2331-4125
publishDate	2004-12-01
description	Twenty three inmates from a rural state penitentiary with mental retardation participated in a study on the differential treatment of persons with mental retardation by the criminal justice system. After obtaining informed consent, the inmates were screened for appropriateness for the study using the PPVT-R, a proxy test for IQ. The inmates were interviewed to obtain a social history and given the CAST-MR, an instrument that measures the competency of a person with mental retardation to stand trial. Results suggest participants may not have been competent to stand trial, learned most of what they knew about the criminal justice system while incarcerated, and had difficulty with interpersonal conflict and conflict with authority. The combination of these factors suggests that clients in the study may have been vulnerable to being coerced into confessing to crimes they did not commit. The presence of an advocate during criminal justice system encounters may benefit persons with mental retardation.
topic	Disabilities mental retardation rural social justice advocacy criminal justice
url	https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/69
work_keys_str_mv	AT montemiller equalaccesstojusticeinaruralwesternstate
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Equal Access to Justice in a Rural Western State

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