Handbook

This course explores current theoretical, policy and practice-oriented debates about how and why people with disability are overrepresented in all stages of criminal justice systems across western societies. The course will put these current debates in context by exploring interdisciplinary materials and approaches - including critical criminology, penal abolition, decoloniality, disability justice and critical disability studies - that provide important insights about the role of historical, social- structural and cultural factors, as well as forms of state violence, abuse and neglect in the increasing criminalisation and imprisonment of people with disability. We will hear from criminalised people with disability, as well as leading advocates and practitioners working in the field. A key aim of the course is to develop a nuanced understanding of how disability as a key analytic category and identity (alongside class, race and gender/sexuality) is central to developing a deeper understanding of the functions, purpose and consequences of criminal justice systems. A related aim is to explore how this knowledge contributes to the development of alternatives to criminal justice that are rooted in the principles of social, restorative and transformative justice.