This research brief explores the impacts of cognitive ageing and decline on individuals, as well as on the wider Australian economy.

This study sought to examine the prevalence of cognitive impairment in a representative sample of Indigenous offenders from Victorian prisons.

The brief considers issues facing these groups of Indigenous people in their contact with police, in courts, in custody and post-release, highlighting the lack of appropriate diversionary programs at all stages of this contact.

This report summarises the findings of a two-year research project designed to develop practical and legal solutions to the problem of persons with cognitive disabilities – and particularly Indigenous people with cognitive disabilities – being found unfit to plead and detained indefinitely in Australia.

This project reviewed current literature and resources, and interviewed more than eighty practitioners representing a variety of sectors across Australia with a view to identifying key issues and successful approaches that might inform the development of a national model.