Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters
Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
Fall 12-4-2025
Faculty Advisor(s)
Stephany Cuevas
Abstract
This research addresses the central question: How do individuals with disabilities intersect with the criminal justice system, and what systemic factors contribute to their overrepresentation and victimization? Despite over 61 million Americans having disabilities, there exists a significant gap in comprehensive scholarship examining disability-criminal justice intersections, particularly regarding how people with intellectual and developmental disabilities experience unique vulnerabilities as both offenders and victims. This study contributes to disability studies and criminology by providing a comprehensive intersectional analysis examining how disability compounds with race and gender to create compounded marginalization. This study conducted a comprehensive literature review, analyzing government statistics from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Crime Victimization Survey, alongside peer-reviewed research, to examine prevalence rates, victimization patterns, police interactions, and systemic barriers. The methodology involved synthesizing quantitative data on incarceration and victimization rates, examining historical developments from deinstitutionalization through contemporary practices, and identifying pipeline mechanisms that funnel individuals with disabilities into criminal justice involvement. Findings reveal that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are dramatically overrepresented in correctional facilities, with 20% in state prisons and 31% in county jails compared to 1% in the general population. They face significantly higher victimization rates, comprising one-third to one-half of police violence fatalities, and experience intersectional vulnerabilities, with 55% of Black men with disabilities arrested by age 28. The research concludes that systemic issues, rather than individual deficits, drive these intersections, supporting the social model of disability and demonstrating the urgent need for policy reform and improved community supports.
Recommended Citation
Eisleman, Rowan, "Criminalizing Difference: An Intersectional Analysis of Disability in the Criminal Justice System" (2025). Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters. 774.
https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/cusrd_abstracts/774
Slideshow Presentation
Included in
Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Courts Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Disability Law Commons, Disability Studies Commons, Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence Commons, Fourteenth Amendment Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Law and Race Commons, Law and Society Commons, Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons, Legal History Commons, Liberal Studies Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Prison Education and Reentry Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, Social Justice Commons
Comments
Presented at the Fall 2025 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.