Page 36 - Juvenile Practice is not Child's Play

Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), Definition of Intellectual Disability, available

at: http://aaidd.org/intellectual-disability/definition (Accessed on July 11, 2013).

If you suspect that your client has an intellectual disability, you should explore the possibility though sensitive
discussion with your client and their parents. Your client’s school, medical, and social service agency records might

also reveal useful information. If your client has never received a formal diagnosis of an intellectual disability but
you suspect that he or she has an intellectual disability, you should consider having your client evaluated by a
professional qualified to make a diagnosis (e.g., a social worker who has worked with children with an intellectual
disability).

Intellectual Disabilities can affect a youth defendant’s case in a variety of ways. For Example, people with
intellectual disabilities are often unusually suggestible or naive. Because of this suggestibility, their peers might use
youth with intellectual disabilities to commit crimes -- in some cases, this tendency might be powerful mitigation

to evidence. Also be aware that defendants with intellectual disabilities are at a heightened danger of falsely
confessing, misunderstanding legal concepts (including Miranda Warnings), and misreporting or not remembering
events related to the alleged offense. You should consider how such misunderstandings might have affected your
client’s communication with the police and with you.

If you learn that your client has an intellectual disability, you have several options. Consider talking to the
prosecutor and/ or complaining witness, explaining that your client’s intellectual disability might have played a role

in the offense and trying to convince them to dismiss the case. This option is especially attractive if you know that
the prosecutor is sensitive to disability issues. Section V of this handbook includes a more thorough discussion of
possible defenses and strategies available to youth defendants with intellectual disabilities. If your client has an
intellectual disability, it is particularly important that you investigate its possible bearings on your client’s case.

3. Race, Ethnicity, and Culture
You should always be sensitive to your client’s racial, ethnic, and cultural background. These factors may play a role

in how your client sees their case and may even impact communications with court personnel and probation.

Research indicates that minority youth commonly receive more punitive sanctions than white youth charged with

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the same offenses and are more likely than white youth to be detained and/ or transferred to adult court. In Texas,

31 Feld et al, DISPROPORTIONATE MINORITY CONFINEMENT: CONFRONTING RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN ASSESSMENTS OF
JUVENILE CULPABILITY (2005); http://www.adjj.org/downloads/8166DMChandout.pdf;
https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/special_topics/qa11802.asp?qaDate=2017