Sentencing offenders with disabilities

Abstract

Offenders with disabilities have a vulnerable status in prison. Due to inadequate facilities and a lack of care available to address their special needs in prison, their health may even deteriorate from imprisonment. The prisons carry out the sentences decided by the courts. It is therefore of interest to examine how the courts mete out punishment when the defendant has a disability. How are offenders with disabilities ‘seen’ and perceived by the penal law and the penal courts? Does the disability matter when the court metes out the sentence, and if so, in what way? Should disability matter as a mitigating circumstance? How should offenders with disabilities be dealt with in the criminal justice system? These questions are addressed in this article.

Keywords

• offenders with disabilities
• sentencing
• imprisonment
• principle of equality