Who is Diverted?: Moving Beyond Diagnosed Impairment Towards a Social and Political Analysis of Diversion

Steele, LR; Dowse, L; Trofimovs, J

Who is Diverted?: Moving Beyond Diagnosed Impairment Towards a Social and Political Analysis of Diversion

Steele, LR

Dowse, L Trofimovs, J

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Publisher:: Sydney Law School
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Sydney Law Review, 2016, 38 (2), pp. 179 - 206
Issue Date:: 2016-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Steele, LR https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6944-7888	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Dowse, L	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Trofimovs, J	en_US
dc.date.issued	2016-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Sydney Law Review, 2016, 38 (2), pp. 179 - 206	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0082-0512	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/118455
dc.description.abstract	Diversion from the criminal justice system pursuant to s 32 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 (NSW) is increasingly being deployed as a key response to the issues facing people diagnosed with cognitive impairment and/or mental illness in the criminal justice system. The ‘medical model’ of disability, which is focused on disability as an internal, individual pathology, contributes to the marginalisation of people with disability, notably by providing a legitimate basis for the legal and social regulation of people with disability through therapeutic interventions. The scholarly field of critical disability studies contests the medical model by making apparent the social and political contingency of disability, including the intersection of disability with other dimensions of politicised identity (such as gender and Indigeneity) and the role of law and institutions (including the criminal justice system) in the disablement, marginalisation and criminalisation of people with disability. Applying critical disability studies to s 32 problematises the characterisation of the legal subject with diagnosed impairment and this provides a new basis for questioning the coercion of people with disability through the criminal justice intervention of diversion. An empirical analysis of the diagnostics, demographics and criminal justice pathways of a sample of individuals who have received s 32 orders provides some material foundations for a more politically and socially directed analysis of s 32 and for a broader reflection on the role of the criminal law in issues facing people diagnosed with cognitive impairments and mental illness in the criminal justice system.	en_US
dc.publisher	Sydney Law School	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Sydney Law Review	en_US
dc.title	Who is Diverted?: Moving Beyond Diagnosed Impairment Towards a Social and Political Analysis of Diversion	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	2	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	38	en_US
utslib.for	1801 Law	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - HJ - Health Justice
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	2	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	38	en_US

Abstract:

Diversion from the criminal justice system pursuant to s 32 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 (NSW) is increasingly being deployed as a key response to the issues facing people diagnosed with cognitive impairment and/or mental illness in the criminal justice system. The ‘medical model’ of disability, which is focused on disability as an internal, individual pathology, contributes to the marginalisation of people with disability, notably by providing a legitimate basis for the legal and social regulation of people with disability through therapeutic interventions. The scholarly field of critical disability studies contests the medical model by making apparent the social and political contingency of disability, including the intersection of disability with other dimensions of politicised identity (such as gender and Indigeneity) and the role of law and institutions (including the criminal justice system) in the disablement, marginalisation and criminalisation of people with disability. Applying critical disability studies to s 32 problematises the characterisation of the legal subject with diagnosed impairment and this provides a new basis for questioning the coercion of people with disability through the criminal justice intervention of diversion. An empirical analysis of the diagnostics, demographics and criminal justice pathways of a sample of individuals who have received s 32 orders provides some material foundations for a more politically and socially directed analysis of s 32 and for a broader reflection on the role of the criminal law in issues facing people diagnosed with cognitive impairments and mental illness in the criminal justice system.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/118455