Supporting people with an intellectual disability in the criminal justice system progress report June 2008

Research and inquiries over many years have indicated that people with an intellectual disability are significantly over represented as offenders in all aspects of the criminal justice system. In 2002, a cross-government Senior Officers Group (SOG) was formed to bring about better outcomes for people with an intellectual disability in contact with the criminal justice system. The group was chaired by the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (DADHC).In 2004, in response to a complaint about the lack of progress of the SOG, we initiated an investigation of DADHC's conduct as lead agency of the SOG. The purpose of this report is to outline the findings of our 2004 investigation, DADHC's undertakings to address these findings, and the progress of the SOG since then.