Disability experts: Crime stats confirm what they already knew
October 6th, 2009By Joe Shapiro on National Public Radio:
Recent findings by the Justice Department that people with disabilities are one-and-a-half times more likely to be the victims of violent crime comes as no surprise to those in the field. They say crime is a daily fact of life for many people with disabilities, and most of it never gets public attention.
The study found disabled women were the most at risk: They were victims at rates almost twice that for other females. Rape and sexual assault were 2.7 times as high.
The International Coalition on Abuse and Disability, run by University of Alberta professor Dick Sobsey, tracks individual reports of crimes against people with disabilities in the U.S., Canada and other places around the world. And the group’s Web site gives an eye-opening, and distressing snapshot of just how often this crime happens and how it’s often cruel and deliberate.
See also:
Disabilities make victims of crime difficult to assist – [Fort Wayne, IN] Journal Gazette
Two days after the federal report was released, Indiana prosecutors filed charges in the alleged rape of a woman with cerebral palsy and developmental disabilities. A 21-year-old man and three teens – ages 13, 16 and 18 – allegedly took turns raping the woman in a field.
Local law enforcement officials say crimes against people with disabilities are under-reported and difficult to prosecute.
“Our biggest problem, No. 1, is their being able to verbally talk with us, and No. 2 is their cognitive ability to understand what happened to them,” [Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards] said. “A lot (of victims) are very childlike. They don’t have the ability or wherewithal to say no, especially when their caregivers may be the ones committing the crimes.”
Safety fears grow with demand for home care – Detroit Free Press
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