People With Disabilities More Likely to Be Victims of Crime
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The US Dept. of Justice released results of the first-ever study of crimes against people with disabilities. The sad and not-surprising finding is that people with disabilities are one and one-half times as likely to be victims of crime as people without disabilities. Women with disabilities and people with cognitive impairments were most likely among people with disabilities to be victims of crime. Also, young people with disabilities ages 12-19 were twice as likely to be victims of crime as their peers who do not have a disability. See press release or full report.
People with disabilities have known for a long time that they are more vulnerable to assault, rape, and other crimes than people without disabilities. I hope this sad report will give impetus for greater priority of protection of people with disabilities in our society.
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I saw a similar article (or maybe it came from the same study?) recently about people with mental illness. The overall public perception is that the mentally ill are "dangerous", but those living with mental illness are much more likely to be the VICTIMS of a crime than they are to commit one themselves.
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