Access to Justice Initiatives...
Project: Justice for People with Developmental Disabilities
Georgia Appleseed is pleased to announce the publication of two essential resource tools:
Finding the Path to Equal Justice
(A Handbook for Adult Defendants with Intellectual Disabilities and Their Families)
Opening the Door:
Justice for Adult Defendants with Mental Retardation
(A Handbook for Attorneys Practicing in Georgia)
To download the handbooks, click on each title or image above.
Georgia Appleseed's landmark handbooks to aid legal representation for criminal defendants in Georgia who have intellectual disabilities are now available. Defense attorneys, like other court officials, often fail to recognize mental retardation, and even when it is identified, are not familiar with special procedures and laws that apply to such persons. Georgia Appleseed’s, Opening the Door is a practical guide for practitioners, and Finding the Path to Equal Justice is an educational tool for defendants and their families.
Building on an initiative first launched by our sister Appleseed in Texas, the two handbooks debuted as resource materials for attendees of the Second Annual Conference of the Criminal Justice and Developmental Disabilities Coalition (CJ&DDC) held in Atlanta on September 7, 2007.
Click here to see more photos from the Conference.
The Georgia-based Criminal Justice and Developmental Disabilities Coalition is comprised of professionals (including Georgia Appleseed Executive Director, Sharon Hill) dedicated to ensuring that people with developmental disabilities have the right to justice and fair treatment within the courts system.
To learn more about efforts on behalf of people with developmental disabilities, visit the Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities web site (link to www.aadd.org)
