Amber Smock
Vice President of Advocacy
What is Accessible Public Safety?
Accessible Public Safety is the delivery of robust and clearly cohesive set of disability-centered community support services that prevent people with disabilities from encountering the American criminal system, and better supports them in sustaining progress in the community.
The Problem:
43% of people with disabilities are arrested at least once by age 28. And of course, racial disparities are involved.[1] For example, African Americans with disabilities experience a 53% chance of being arrested by the same age. As a result, it’s clear that many people with disabilities require disability-centered community support to better advance their development and sustain their success in the community.
Webinar: Accessible Public Safety – A Pathway Forward
The Solution
We propose enhancing the diversion and reentry support system by applying established disability community integration practices and advancing the development of a more cohesive set of core support services to reduce recidivism, violence, and financial costs to local communities and government. Our core goals are:
- Expand awareness and enforcement of Americans with Disabilities Act regulations within law enforcement, courts, jails, prison, and probation systems.
- Build diverse coalition to help improve understanding of the relationship between disability, incarceration, and social marginalization between impacted people of color with disabilities and broader forms of systematic prejudice and discrimination.
- Expand disability-centered data collection within the correctional institutions and diversion/reentry service organizations in order to help inform the delivery of services and supports.
- Build stronger connections and effective collaborations between local, state, national organizations to better coordinate care for impacted people with disabilities during the diversion and reentry process.
- Expand access to high quality individual and group therapy as well as social services support for families of impacted people with disabilities.
- Expand licensing, certification, trade, and other career pathways for impacted people with disabilities to secure higher income opportunities.
- Develop structured leadership opportunities and training experiences to help advance pathways for impacted people with disabilities to inform work in the non-profit and public sector that directly impact them.
- Strengthen neighborhood-based support and services in communities most likely to receive impacted people with disabilities during the diversion and reentry process.
To get involved, contact:
[1]Erin J. McCauley, 2017: The Cumulative Probability of Arrest by Age 28 Years in the United States by Disability Status, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender. American Journal of Public Health 107, 1977_1981, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304095