CFBS Seminar series- Improving court outcomes for people with cognitive impairment

People with cognitive impairment make up a disproportionately large share of defendants, prisoners, and victims of crime in Australia, yet most receive little or no support when navigating the criminal justice system. The Disability Royal Commission highlighted this as a significant concern, noting that a lack of appropriate supports may reduce the ability of cognitively impaired defendants to understand legal processes, the case against them, legal advice, and/or available legal options. Although several states have introduced initiatives to address this service gap, the Disability Royal Commission identified limited evidence on the effectiveness of existing supports.

Since 2019, the Justice Advocacy Service (JAS) has provided advocacy for people with cognitive impairment involved with the New South Wales (NSW) criminal justice system. In 2022, recognising the underuse of court based diversion, JAS introduced a dedicated Diversion program across six Local Courts. Alongside advocacy, the program assists defendants to gather evidence for diversion applications, develop tailored support plans, connect with local services, and access or refine National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) supports.

This study responds to evidence gaps highlighted by the Disability Royal Commission through a outcomes evaluation and cost effectiveness analysis of the JAS Diversion program. Quantitative analysis used a linked dataset of 3,570 defendants with cognitive impairment (including 718 JAS Diversion participants) who appeared in the NSW Local Court between 2022 and 2025. A matching approach compared participants with similar defendants in courts without access to the program. The study examines the program’s influence on short term court outcomes (such as bail, diversion, and sentencing) and longer term outcomes, including reoffending, victimisation, and NDIS supports. The economic analysis compares the cost effectiveness of JAS Diversion program to the conventional justice process among defendants with cognitive impairment, based on the finding from the outcomes evaluation.