Law Enforcement Response to
Persons with Intellectual and
Developmental Disabilities
Identifying High-Priority Needs to Improve Law
Enforcement Strategies
Dustin A. Richardson, Jeremy D. Barnum, Meagan E. Cahill, Dulani Woods,
Kevin D. Lucey, Michael J. D. Vermeer, Brian A. Jackson
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
RESULTS
Understanding law enforcement’s involvement with
persons with intellectual and developmental dis-
abilities (IDDs)
• Facilitate the development of a working group that is
focused on the research needs for the intersection of
IDD issues and the criminal justice system (similar to
the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
IDD Working Group).
• Identify and document the relevant data on individu-
als with IDDs and their interactions with law enforce-
ment, courts, and corrections that are already
being collected by various federal, state, and local
organizations.
• Conduct research to identify the existing best
practices and potential needs (e.g., screening instru-
ments) for dispatch entities.
• Conduct research to identify the benefits and costs
of diversion centers that provide alternative locations
for helping individuals with IDDs who are in crisis.
Improving IDD training and resources for law
enforcement
• Using interdisciplinary teams, develop IDD-specific
standards and objectives for law enforcement train-
ing (both at the academy and in service).
Establishing partnerships and avenues of dissemination
for improving the law enforcement response
• Examine existing practices for coalition-building that
result in collaborative efforts (e.g., disability response
teams, pathways training, train-the-trainer sessions).
SELECTED PRIORITY NEEDS
Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities
(IDDs) are at a higher risk of being victimized, arrested, and
charged with a crime (e Arc, undated-a). ey are also more
likely to serve longer prison sentences than individuals without
IDDs (e Arc, undated-a). Despite their overrepresentation,
individuals with IDDs who are involved in the criminal justice
system are often overlooked or neglected, and the body of
research on this topic is lacking (e Arc, undated-a; Wilk-
erson, Lopez-Wright, and Davis, 2022). As gatekeepers of the
criminal justice system, police ocers are often the rst point
of contact for individuals with IDDs, yet rarely are they trained
on how to respond to this population eectively (Melendrez
et al., undated; Watson, Phan, and Compton, 2022; Watson,
Compton, and Pope, 2019). Consequently, justice system
professionals may have limited experience with or insucient
knowledge about IDDs, which can lead to the “misidentica-
tion of disability, a heightened risk of false confessions, inac-
curate assumptions about competency and credibility, inappro-
priate placement in institutions, and the unknowing waivers of
rights” (e Arc, undated-a). In the absence of proper training,
ocers are forced to rely on traditional approaches that do not
account for the unique needs of those with IDDs. erefore,
it is critical to identify ways in which the law enforcement
response to persons with IDDs can be improved.
is report documents an eort to do just that as part of the
Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative, a multiyear collabora-
tion to develop expert-identied research and policy needs on
issues aecting the criminal justice system. On behalf of the
National Institute of Justice (NIJ), RAND and the Police Execu-
tive Research Forum (PERF) convened a workshop to address
the law enforcement response to persons with IDDs. e purpose
of this workshop was to inform a research agenda for NIJ and
other stakeholders to discover and implement novel law enforce-
ment responses to individuals with IDDs. e meeting occurred
on July 12 and 13, 2023, in Washington, D.C., at the NIJ oces
within the Oce of Justice Programs. PERF sta consulted the
