We challenge systems that criminalize disabled people through policing, incarceration, and surveillance.
For too long, disabled people of color have faced the worst impacts of the criminal legal system.
Fifty percent of people killed by police are disabled. Fifty five percent of Black disabled men are likely to be arrested by age twenty eight. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania report that two thirds of people in state and federal prisons are disabled.
In Southern states, disabled people have less access to transportation, healthcare, stable employment, housing, and community supports. These disparities increase police contact and raise the likelihood of incarceration and institutionalization.
Disabled youth and students, especially Black, Indigenous, and other youth of color, are significantly more likely to have police called on them in school than their nondisabled classmates. The school to prison pipeline is also a disability pipeline.
Criminalization is not accidental. It is built into policies that treat disability and poverty as problems to control rather than conditions to support.
33–50%
Of people killed by police in the United States are people with disabilities
Source: Ruderman Family Foundation analysis of law enforcement reporting
50%+
Of disabled African Americans have been arrested by age 28
Source: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
40%+
Of people in state prisons report a disability
Source: Prison Policy Initiative analysis of Bureau of Justice Statistics data
66%
Of state and federal prison populations may have a disability when mental health and cognitive conditions are included
Source: University of Pennsylvania research estimates
