South Australian Autism Strategy Action Plan’s focus on Justice System

SA Autism Strategy’s focus on Justice System

We welcome the release of the new SA Autism Strategy Action Plan 2025-29 produced by the South Australian Department of Human Services.

In particular, we acknowledge the attention given under Focus Area 7: Interactions with the Justice System, which provides commitments and targets to improve the outcomes for Autistic people, their families and communities.

The NDIS Review stated that “people with disability, especially those with cognitive and psychosocial disabilities, are overrepresented in the justice system. In 2018, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that 29 per cent of the Australian adult prison population had a disability.”

The SA Autism Strategy Action Plan goes a long way to supporting and aiming to improve outcomes for Autistic people, but there remains further work to be done in supporting individuals with other forms of disability who are involved in the justice system.

We heard from the Disability Royal Commission (DRC): “the disproportionate rate of imprisonment of people with disability is not the result of any inherent causal relationship between disability and crime. Rather, it reflects the disadvantages experienced by many people with disability, such as poverty, disrupted family backgrounds, family violence and other forms of abuse, unstable housing and homelessness.”

Strategy Action Plan Focus Area 7: Interactions with the justice system

The Objective for this Focus Area in the Plan is: We want to improve the experiences of Autistic people coming into contact with the criminal and youth justice systems.

Actions to be taken under this focus area aim to address the barriers and challenges raised by the Autistic and autism communities relating to lack of awareness and understanding of staff working in the criminal justice system, the importance of providing information for Autistic people to understand police and court processes and the overrepresentation of undiagnosed Autistic people in criminal justice settings.

There are three Commitments:

  1. Improve the knowledge and understanding of autism across the criminal and youth justice systems.
  2. Ensure services and supports provided in community and custodial justice settings are responsive to the needs of Autistic people.
  3. Create autism inclusive environments within criminal justice settings.

Each focus area is broken down into three stages of delivery with actions categorized as:

  1. Immediate – first 12 months;
  2. Staged – 2026 to 2029; and
  3. Ongoing: over the life of the plan and beyond.

Further details on the actions, commitments and targets can be found in the SA Autism Strategy Action Plan document.

Conclusion

It is important for the family/guardian who are supporting the person with disability to plan ahead of the release date as it can take considerable time to get NDIS plans and funding reviewed or in place to provide support post-release. Starting this process early can avoid spending additional time in a correctional facility waiting for supports to be approved before being released.

In our experience, there are a number of key factors that support a successful transition for a person with disability out of the corrections system and back into community. These are:

  1. Early preparation for release – it can take months to get the right supports in place
  2. The importance of the support coordinator and other stakeholder involvement as part of the individual’s circle of support to assist.
  3. Engaging with a SIL or community support provider who understands the unique challenges of the justice system and working with the individual to integrate back into community.
  4. Building up individual support services while still in custody to build positive relationships so that support workers know and understand your needs.

Conclusion

At Hope Circle, we support numerous people with disability that are engaged in the justice system, who have autism or other types of cognitive disability, and including mental health.

We understand that there’s a difference between supported independent living normal supports and NDIS forensic supports, being those provided to individuals involved with the criminal justice system.

While recognizing the SA Autism Strategy Action Plan is a positive step forward for Autistic people, we encourage both state and federal governments to consider the other DRC and NDIS Review recommendations to do more for individuals living with other forms of disability who are involved in the justice system.

Want more?

Hope Circle is a registered NDIS provider specialising in providing SIL and in-home & community support to individuals with complex disabilities.

Our team has extensive experience working with NDIS participants who have corrections or forensic histories, mental health and physical disabilities.

For more information regarding our disability support services in Adelaide or Perth, please contact us here.