Over-policing endangers disabled people across California.
California has invested more than a billion dollars in responding to the state’s “crime problem”. However, data pointing to increased crime in California are muddled at best, with crime rates statewide near record lows.[16]
In response to these reports of increased crime, and with hundreds of millions of dollars from the state,[17] communities across the state have hired many more police officers. For some Californians, this makes them feel safer, but for others, it sparks fear and anxiety. Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, including disabled people of color, are disproportionately likely to be subject to negative interactions with police officers and other representatives of the criminal legal system.[18] California must be intentional about the use of law enforcement and should invest in programs that provide communities with social and economic opportunities.
When police respond to behavioral health crises, they harm disabled Californians.
For decades, Californians in mental health and other disability-related crises have been seriously injured or killed by police responders.[19] While resources have been put into training police officers, these fatal interactions continue. In many of these circumstances, a trained non-police mental health response team could have de-escalated the situation without harming the disabled person. California needs to fully invest in these clinical response teams, which have seen success in some parts of the state. The rollout of 988 presents an opportunity but mental health services must be resourced so they can respond to 988 calls. Adequate access to mental health and other disability services also prevents crises.
California must ban solitary confinement for people with disabilities.
Disabled Californians are dramatically overrepresented in carceral settings like juvenile detention, jails, prisons, and immigration detention. These settings are typically brutal for every incarcerated person but are in many ways worse for disabled incarcerated people. People with disabilities are placed in solitary confinement — a form of torture that injures and kills — at high rates and for periods of time that can continue for months — even years.[20] Solitary confinement has been recognized by the United Nations, World Health Organization, and other international bodies as greatly harmful and potentially fatal. People with disabilities, pregnant people, youth, and older adults are all at heightened risk from the harm caused by solitary confinement inside jails, prisons, and immigrant detention centers in California. California must pass the Mandela Act, which will ban solitary confinement for specific populations and set limits on this harmful practice.
We lack adequate data to understand and address hate crimes against disabled people.
Hate crimes in California have been on the rise for nearly a decade, impacting Black, Latinx, and Asian Californians most. In short periods, anti-Black, anti-Latinx, and anti-Asian hate crimes increased by 156% overall from 2019 to 2022.
There are significant problems with the reporting system that California uses to track hate crimes. For example, according to the Statista research department, in 2021, California only had 81 hate crimes total,[21] which experts believe to be an undercount. The state must have a better reporting system that accurately counts these crimes to better protect disabled Californians.
The recent US Bureau of Justice Statistics and FBI data reports that only 0.4% of all hate crimes are against people with disabilities. Anecdotal data suggests that this is an undercount. Reasons for the inadequate data include police are not able to recognize disabilities, victims and witnesses do not report to the police in the first place,[22] and when someone has intersectional identities, often only one identity is reported. California must prioritize the most vulnerable and ensure that hate crimes are being tracked properly so that we can make sure these crimes stop happening.
[19] Disability Rights Groups Submit Letter to LA County District Attorney Urging Dismissal of All Charges with Prejudice Against Isaias Cervantes, 4 Jan. 2022; “Disability Rights California Calls for Change and Accountability Following Police Shooting of Teen with Disability.” Disability Rights California, 15 Mar. 2024; see also Amicus Curiae Brief in City and Cty. of San Francisco v. Sheehan, No. 13-1412 (Feb. 13, 2015).
[20] “A Different Conversation about Solitary Confinement.” Disability Rights California, 2 Aug. 2023.
[22] “Hate Crimes in California.” California State Auditor, May 2018.