ABSTRACT
The recognition of a person with disability's criminal culpability on an equal basis with others is a particularly laden concept. In the criminal justice system, one can see charity model play out in the exclusion from criminal culpability on the basis of disability –for example, the insanity defence, and other similar legal mechanisms. The charity model of disability views disability as a burden on society and something to be pitied. The charity model's exculpation of people with disability from criminal culpability appears to be one, figurative, 'bone' thrown to people with disability that are entangled in such systems. The reality of disability is much different from how a charity model presents it. Social barriers, stigma, and prejudice are landing people with disability into criminal justice systems. As Amita Dhanda and Gombos Gabor describe, the solution is not disability-specific exceptions to criminal culpability, it is exceptions to criminal culpability that are non-discriminatory, encompass a consideration of social disadvantage.
