ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates the access to justice debates concerning people with disabilities in the criminal justice system from the perspective of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ("CRPD"). It focuses the human rights issues associated with the prosecution of people with cognitive impairment involved with low-level offences. The chapter argues that the hidden nature of disability limits the efficacy of current prosecution arrangements, pointing to the CRPD as a way forward. It examines the prosecutorial discretion of police in Victoria, Australia. In Victoria, the decision to prosecution low-level offences rests with the police. The prosecutorial arrangements for people with cognitive impairment who commit low-level offences vary across Australian jurisdictions. The disincentive to identify cognitive impairment is amplified by the "hidden" nature of disability. Cognitive impairment is commonly undetected, confused with personality traits or interpreted as mental illness or aggression.
