How one authorized staff is constructing help for individuals with cognitive disabilities : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbc%2F03%2Ff70ce03d40539e84f84ec2e41c87%2F20250917ncdt0124.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbc%2F03%2Ff70ce03d40539e84f84ec2e41c87%2F20250917ncdt0124.jpg" class="img" alt="Noah Cox, a lawyer in the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, stands in the doorway of his office. He is wearing a gray suit and a patterned bowtie. " fetchpriority="high"/> Noah Cox, a lawyer within the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Workplace, fashioned the neurocognitive dysfunction staff constructed on the premise that jail shouldn't be at all times the suitable place for somebody with this sort of incapacity. Philip Cheung for NPR disguise caption

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Philip Cheung for NPR Just a few years in the past, Noah Cox observed one thing about a few of the individuals he represented in court docket. They struggled to speak, assume logically or drawback resolve.

"I wished to know their account of what occurred, and I would ask them questions. And plenty of of them would wrestle with a fundamental rationalization," says Cox, a lawyer within the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Workplace. "It appeared like they have been having challenges associated to some type of mental potential."

What Cox was seeing was indicative of a broader development: Research present individuals with mental and developmental disabilities are overrepresented within the nation's prisons and jails.

He got down to break that sample, forming a staff inside the public defender's workplace generally known as the neurocognitive dysfunction staff. It is a pioneering effort constructed on the premise that jail shouldn't be at all times the suitable place for individuals with these kinds of disabilities.

'A cycle of being concerned within the system' There are various the explanation why somebody would possibly expertise a cognitive impairment, together with circumstances comparable to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Down Syndrome, a traumatic mind harm, or an mental incapacity, which may restrict studying and on a regular basis duties.

However a lot of Cox's shoppers have been by no means recognized with any type of incapacity. That does not shock Leigh Anne McKingsley, senior director of incapacity and justice initiatives for The Arc, a nonprofit that advocates for individuals with mental and developmental disabilities.

"Typically the incapacity goes unrecognized," McKingsley says. "They may have gone by means of their college system not ever actually passing a lot, nevertheless it by no means obtained documented."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F48%2F51%2F4719fad64f82b431d7fd160d711e%2F20250917ncdt0005.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F48%2F51%2F4719fad64f82b431d7fd160d711e%2F20250917ncdt0005.jpg" class="img" alt="A piece of paper that says "semi-structured interview questionnaire for cognitive disorders" is stapled to a bulletin board and holds questionnaire packets." loading="lazy"/> Academic flyers about cognitive issues are displayed within the Los Angeles County Public Defender's workplace. Philip Cheung for NPR disguise caption

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Philip Cheung for NPR She says it may be straightforward for individuals like this to fall by means of the cracks. That may result in bother. In comparison with the overall inhabitants, individuals with mental and developmental disabilities usually tend to be the victims of violent crimes.

However that may go within the different course, too.

"Typically individuals with mental disabilities are misunderstood, and that may result in this cycle of being concerned within the system," McKingsley says.

An individual with this sort of impairment might not perceive penalties or have the ability to discern who's a good friend and who is not. They are often extremely suggestible, McKingsley says, and extra simply led throughout a police interrogation.

"They go right into a system that does not handle their incapacity. They most likely come out a lot worse and extra more likely to commit extra crime or become involved with individuals that can," she says.

'I wasn't conscious' Jimmy is 56, and a local of East LA. He is wirey, with tattoos on his neck and glasses which can be a little bit too massive for his face. NPR shouldn't be utilizing his final identify as a result of he and his household apprehensive in regards to the stigma of his felony file.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F17%2Fe8%2Fbf4602e14478b2f0d4340b306071%2F20250917ncdt0318.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F17%2Fe8%2Fbf4602e14478b2f0d4340b306071%2F20250917ncdt0318.jpg" class="img" alt="Jimmy, 56, stands next to a tree and faces away from the camera. He is wearing a blue t-shirt and has tattoos on his arms." loading="lazy"/> Jimmy 56, is a shopper of Noah Cox and was granted diversion. He meets in LA's Ladera Park with a day program that works with adults with disabilities. Philip Cheung for NPR disguise caption

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Philip Cheung for NPR For so long as he can bear in mind, he has been getting in bother – with household, with academics, with the police.

"I wasn't conscious of something, that something was even improper," he says. "It took me some time to know issues."

Jimmy has been homeless, struggled with substance abuse, and been out and in of jail most of his life. He got here to Cox's workplace on a housebreaking cost. It was a 3rd strike, that means he already had two violent felonies on his file and would now face a harsher sentence.

"I bear in mind assembly Jimmy," Cox says. "He was attempting very laborious to inform me one thing that was essential to him. However I couldn't perceive what he was attempting to say."

Cox requested the choose to nominate a neuropsychologist to judge Jimmy. His preliminary testing confirmed weak cognitive abilities, and an IQ low sufficient to point impairment.

"It turned obvious that this was someone who had a developmental incapacity, who had not been recognized when he was younger," Cox says.

'They have been truly attempting to assist' Cox, together with a small staff of paralegals, interns and social staff, wished to make the argument {that a} diversion program, a substitute for jail, can be extra applicable for Jimmy.

Being recognized with a developmental incapacity, outlined as starting in childhood, would make Jimmy eligible for California's regional facilities, a community that gives help to individuals with these circumstances. Entry to such help might enhance his possibilities at diversion.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffd%2F4b%2Fdc76fa8b48269b66a904a0d1634a%2F20250917ncdt0462.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffd%2F4b%2Fdc76fa8b48269b66a904a0d1634a%2F20250917ncdt0462.jpg" class="img" alt="People walk by the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center where the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office is located. It is a tall and boxy cement building next to a small park and other office buildings." loading="lazy"/> Individuals stroll by the Clara Shortridge Foltz Legal Justice Heart the place the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Workplace is positioned. Philip Cheung for NPR disguise caption

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Philip Cheung for NPR So the staff gathered as many data as they may, and interviewed Jimmy's household to get a way of his childhood.

"They have been truly attempting to assist him. And it was very new to us," his sister Sylvia says.

Sylvia has at all times identified one thing was completely different about her brother. He was late to crawl and communicate. He could not bear in mind easy methods to modify the tub water temperature. He struggled at school. She says he began getting in bother with police earlier than he even hit his teen years.

"I feel it was a self-fulfilling prophecy for him. The extra he was labeled unhealthy, I feel the extra he turned unhealthy," she says.

After all of the interviews and exams, Jimmy was recognized with a light mental incapacity, one he'd had since he was a toddler. He was 54 years outdated.

'I am not pissed off anymore' Skeptics of diversion say they are often too lenient on offenders. However Ricardo Garcia, the general public defender who leads the LA County workplace, says if accomplished proper, it could handle an individual's underlying points, whether or not they're associated to psychological well being, substance abuse, or a cognitive dysfunction.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fba%2Fdc%2F02c6826749328737e13d929d0b1a%2F20250919ncdt0181.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fba%2Fdc%2F02c6826749328737e13d929d0b1a%2F20250919ncdt0181.jpg" class="img" alt="LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - September 19, 2025: Ricardo Garcia, 56, Los Angeles County Public Defender, poses for a portrait in the office in the Public Defender’s Office at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. CREDIT: Philip Cheung for NPR" loading="lazy"/> Los Angeles County Public Defender Ricardo Garcia says diversion can handle an individual's underlying points, when accomplished appropriately. Philip Cheung for NPR disguise caption

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Philip Cheung for NPR "You give them goal and also you train them the talents for self-determination," Garcia says. "It is not telling people easy methods to reside their life higher. It is displaying them choices so that they grow to be conscious and may resolve for themselves with all the perfect info accessible to reside the life that most individuals need to reside."

Jimmy is now a 3rd of the way in which by means of his two-year diversion plan. He lives in a bunch residence, attends remedy, and most days he involves LA's Ladera Park as a part of a day program that works with adults with disabilities. His days are wanting quite a bit completely different than they used to.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1a%2F4b%2Fdadff3784648b7c2ed5cd89c4b4f%2F20250917ncdt0343.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3375+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1a%2F4b%2Fdadff3784648b7c2ed5cd89c4b4f%2F20250917ncdt0343.jpg" class="img" alt="Jimmy sits on a cement wall in Ladera Park while facing away from the camera." loading="lazy"/> Jimmy is now viewing his life as a clear slate. Philip Cheung for NPR disguise caption

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Philip Cheung for NPR "I'm going to my remedy. I come to this program. I am busy on a regular basis," Jimmy says. "All I can say is that it gives greater than jail has to supply me, as a result of I've simply modified my life utterly. I do not even use medicine anymore. I am not homeless anymore. I am not pissed off anymore. I've traded in my life for a brand new one."