~ Equal Justice ~
A Newsletter for the Disability and Criminal Justice Communities
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Dear Colleagues and Friends: The Criminal Justice Advocacy Program of The Arc of New Jersey has created this newsletter to bring information to you when we are not able to conference and train in person, full of links, articles and information to help you work with people with I/DD. Our hope is that this newsletter can keep you apprised of many of the issues that we have worked on together and will continue to address as we go forward.
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Highlighted in this Issue:
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- Reimagining Community Safety, Policing and the Future of Criminal Justice Reform
- Article by Leigh Ann Davis, Director of Criminal Justice Initiatives, The Arc of the United States.
- The ADA in State and Local Criminal Justice Settings
- Click below to register for this no-cost webinar providing important information about implementing the ADA in the state and federal court systems.
- Presented by AUSA Steve Gordon on September 9th, 2020.
- Continuing Education Hours Available
- Webinars and resources about The ADA, its history, and how it impacts the lives of all Americans.
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Equal Justice Talks - Podcast Series
- Listen to our most recent episode: "Solutions for Police Use of Force for People with I/DD."
- Community Health Law Project
- Interview with Associate Executive Director Erika Kerber, Esq.
- Reaching Victims Newsletter
- Monthly release by The National Resource Center for Reaching Victims.
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Criminal Responsibility in People with ASD
- Excerpt by Melanie Gavisk, from Editor Elizabeth Kelley's new book.
- Carrying A Heavy Load: Serving Autistic Sexual Assault Survivors
- Written by Kaitlyn Shetler, Senior Program Associate at End Abuse of People with Disabilities.
- Debunking the Myths of Supported Decision-Making and Guardianship
- Click below to register for this September 8th webinar presented by The Arc of the United States Center for Future Planning.
- Equal Justice Talks Webinar Series
- Check out our full archive of 2019-2020 Webinars.
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Reimagining Community Safety, Policing and the Future of Criminal Justice Reform
Leigh Ann Davis, Director of Criminal Justice Initiatives
The Arc of the United States
The impact of key events over the past five to six months is causing many in the disability and criminal justice community to think more creatively than ever before about ways to continue our work successfully. We are living in uncertain times and must put our best foot forward to meet current and anticipated challenges in the future. At The Arc’s National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability, we have been responding to the following key issues as we seek ways to consider our role and further our mission to promote and protect the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) within the criminal justice system, both nationally and internationally. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.
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ADA in State and Local Criminal Justice Settings
The ADA and its implementing regulations require entities that operate state or local criminal justice programs to ensure that individuals with disabilities are able to participate, on an equal basis, in services provided by these governmental entities. When law enforcement personnel interact with members of the public, including victims, witnesses and suspects, they are required to take steps to ensure that they are not discriminating against individuals with disabilities. Further, court and correctional personnel are also required to take steps to ensuring that individuals with disabilities, including detainees, parolees, or members of the public, are able to participate, on an equal basis, in their programs. This presentation will provide an overview of the ADA legal principles applicable to state and local criminal justice programs, including statutory provisions, regulations, technical assistance publications and cases.
Learning objectives:
- Being able to spot ADA issues that arise in state and local criminal justice settings.
- Developing an understanding of the sections of the ADA, its implementing regulations that apply to state and local criminal justice programs.
- Gaining knowledge of the practical steps that personnel working on criminal justice programs may take to ensure ADA compliance.
This webinar will NOT be recorded, so to view it you must attend live.
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Continuing Education Hours Available Through TransCen, Inc. and the Mid-Atlantic ADA Center
TransCen, Inc. and the Mid-Atlantic ADA Center are pleased to offer continuing education (CE) opportunities with select webinar recordings and a continuing 3-part webinar series. Enhance your knowledge and polish your skills while earning hours towards your professional credential or employee development hour requirement. You must register, pay a fee, and pass a short quiz to receive CE recognition for each webinar program. Captions are available for all sessions. For webinars presented by TransCen, CLICK HERE. Click the buttons below to register for webinars available through the Mid-Atlantic ADA Center.
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Criminal Justice Advocacy Program
Equal Justice Talks - Podcasts
The Criminal Justice Advocacy Program of The Arc of New Jersey is pleased to bring you a new series of podcasts called The Equal Justice Talks Podcast. Funded by the generous assistance of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, this new series features conversations with experts and professionals about a variety of topics; some related to the COVID-19 crisis and some about issues we need to continue discussing despite the current pandemic. We will be posting podcasts about social skills programming, healthy sexuality and many other interesting and pertinent topics. Listen to our most recent episodes below.
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Community Health Law Project: Take Five
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Erika Kerber, Esq., CHLP’s Associate Executive Director, was honored to be interviewed by the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute. The interview features topics such as the "Medical-Legal Partnership" model, and changes in the health and legal fields as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the full interview here. You can also register for the Community Law Health Project Newsletter here.
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Reaching Victims Newsletter
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"The National Resource Center for Reaching Victims monthly newsletter is our opportunity to spotlight victim service organizations and their work; share promising practices and resources; and, engage more organizations in training. This month we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) , share tools and resources to help you meet the needs of victims with disabilities and Deaf victims, and highlight our upcoming virtual events." View the full newsletter here.
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Criminal Responsibility by Dr. Nancy Kaser-Boyd
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The following excerpt is from Editor Elizabeth Kelley's new book, Representing People With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers. The book is a compilation of expert opinions examining the experience of people with ASD in the criminal justice system.
Criminal charges can result from the specific impairments in autism, which are:
1. Difficulty interpreting social cues and understanding what others are thinking and feeling. Difficulty anticipating and understanding the actions of others and the emotional impact of their actions on others.
2. Poor emotional regulation, with impulsivity, difficulty controlling strong emotions or urges and possible "meltdowns."
3. Difficulty with moral reasoning. Moral reasoning requires a degree of abstract thinking, and individuals with ASD tend to be concrete in their reasoning.
4. Intense restricted interests (i.e., fixations).
5. Repetitive behaviors, compulsivity.
Difficulty interpreting social cues and the actions of others can lead a person with autism to overreact or react inappropriately. In social and sexual relationships, for example, this can result in unwanted sexual aggression, or perhaps in stalking. Difficulty managing emotions may result in an emotional outburst that frightens or even injures others. Fixations, which often have the strength of an obsession, can result in trespassing or stealing. The need to repeat actions and the compulsion to collect may put ASD individuals at risk to repeatedly visit illegal websites or collect pornographic images of children (Attwood, Henault, & Dubin, 2014). However, deliberate violence in individuals with autism is not common. A number of studies have concluded that, when an individual with ASD acts purposely to harm another, there is likely to be comorbid psychiatric illness (e.g., depression or bipolar disorder) or substance abuse. ( See Chap. 4, Co-occurring Disorders).
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Carrying A Heavy Load: Serving Autistic Sexual Assault Survivors
Kaitlin Shetler, Senior Program Associate
Many autistic people struggle to find inclusive services available to them after experiencing sexual assault. “We’re not taught what accommodations make our lives easier, nor encouraging authentic disclosure. If this is done, we can end the isolation so many autistic people experience and allow more stories to be told,” Dena Gassner, a self-advocate, shared.
Dena is a social worker and autistic self-advocate and serves on the national Board of Directors for The Arc of the United States. She is an international autism advocate and writer and spends most of her professional life teaching people about living with autism.
She spoke to us about her experience navigating the world as a sexual assault survivor and as person with a disability. In her interview, she put into words the challenges facing agencies and organizations committed to providing safe and accessible services for autistic survivors of sexual assault and provided tips for those working at the intersection.
Dena says that one of the main things neurotypical service providers have trouble understanding is that someone doesn’t become less autistic just because they appear to have fewer needs. She uses the analogy of wearing a backpack. The backpack is either heavier due to the burden of trying to "make do" without their needs being met or lighter due to accommodations being provided. Even autistic survivors who appear to have fewer needs might still need accommodations to get the most from services. Providing these necessary accommodations to an autistic survivor can make all the difference in their healing.
Dena has a few tips for those who are working with autistic survivors:
- Provide a visual or plain language list of available accommodations. Accommodations could include providing a support person to navigate services, accessible materials (enlarged text, plain or simple language, for example), sensory tools and spaces free from distraction, and extra time for processing.
- Provide social stories or videos for further communication access.
- Use appropriate language. Most autistic survivors prefer identity-first language, but it isn’t inappropriate to ask.
- Make it a practice to be flexible in service provision and meet the needs of the survivor as they arise.
End Abuse of People with Disabilities is a program of The Center on Victimization and Safety at the Vera Institute of Justice. This program was created to connect organizations, practitioners, government agencies, and individuals in order to prevent violence against people with disabilities. Their next webinar, entitled Meeting the Needs of American Indian Alaska Native Survivors with Disabilities, will take place on August 25th at 2:00pm ET. You can register for this webinar HERE.
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Debunking the Myths of Supported Decision-Making and Guardianship
Date: Tuesday, September 8th, 2020
Time: 2:00pm ET
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) have the same right to make decisions about their lives as people without disabilities. However, their ability to make their own decisions is often questioned by teachers, doctors, family members, and others.
People with I/DD are at an increased risk of being placed under guardianship, and guardianship is frequently still the only option presented and utilized by families and supporters of people with I/DD. Guardianship can be an obstacle to the development of self-determination skills, and research has shown that individuals with reduced self-determination have diminished quality-of-life outcomes and are less likely to live and be integrated into their community.
This webinar will describe guardianship and less restrictive decision-making alternatives, as well as help debunk some of the myths that persist about guardianship and supported decision-making.
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Criminal Justice Advocacy Program
Equal Justice Talks - Webinar Series
Equal Justice Talks concludes its 2019-2020 series with a webinar on police use of deadly force.
We would like to thank all of our guest speakers and attendees for another successful series of Equal Justice Talks webinars. Our final webinar of this series was held on Thursday, June 18, 2020. It was entitled "Police Use of Deadly Force as it Relates to People with Behavioral Health Issues", with guest speaker Professor Heather Cucolo, co-owner and partner, Mental Disability Law and Policy Associates. If you missed this webinar, you can watch the full recording by clicking here.
Our next Equal Justice Talks webinar series
will begin in September 2020.
We hope to see everyone again this Fall!
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This program is made possible through funding by
the New Jersey State Bar Foundation
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