Defending the Disabled

I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is a Sunday story where we go beyond the news of the day to bring you one big story. Today, we're gonna talk about the crossroads of two worlds you might not normally think would intersect, disability rights and the criminal justice system. Joining us for this conversation is NPR criminal justice correspondent Meg Anderson. Welcome to the podcast, Meg. Hey, Ayesha. So tell me, about what you've been reporting on when it comes to disabilities and crime. So what I've learned is that many people who end up in the criminal justice system have a disability that affects their cognitive functioning. That is the way they think, learn, remember, problem solve. And unless they receive care, the problems that landed them in trouble with the law, they don't go away. Yeah. I mean, I I can see that. But I did find some people trying to address this issue. So let me take you to an office high above Downtown Los Angeles. The office belongs to a guy named Noah Cox. He's a lawyer in the LA County Public Defender's office. I met him there at his office. And on the walls, he has all these photos of people he has represented. So this is a client of mine. He'd had some really challenging periods of his life. He pointed to a picture of some men in hard hats posing against the wall. Cox's client is in the back. He's leaning into the photo to make sure he's seen. He's holding up a power tool like it's like a prized possession. And this is a photo of him at his first day at work, and he's got a big grin on his face. And you can't really tell which of the people in this photo is my client. And I think that's part of the thing I love about this is that when he's successful, you you wouldn't know him from anybody else. So these photos are basically like little success stories tacked to his wall. Cox says they motivate him to keep doing this work and meeting with clients where they're at and helping them get to a more stable place. They're also evidence of the specific work Cox has focused on for the last few years. It all started, Ayesha, after he noticed something unusual about many of the clients coming into his office. They were accused of a crime and needing a lawyer. I wanted to know their their account of what happened, and I'd ask them questions. And many of them would struggle with a basic explanation, and and it wouldn't even be on significant questions such as did they do it or not? It would just be like, where were you that day? It seemed like they were having challenges related to some sort of intellectual ability. So these clients were there for the same reason anyone comes into a public defender's office. Right? They had been charged with …