A great article on the interaction of learning/developmental disabilities and the criminal justice system. We at SU have supported people though such issues. We can have an incredible impact on a person’s life by helping them stay out of jail or prison and become independent, self-supporting tax-payers. If you’re a state faced with difficult funding decisions based on lack of resources, this makes financial sense. The cost of monitoring, prosecuting and incarcerating a person is a lot higher than collecting taxes from that same person if they get the supports to be successful. When you under-fund a community system, you end up spending more on the last-resort options like institutions for people with disabilities or prisons.
And this doesn’t begin to touch the issues on the mental health side of this.