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Autism and Crime


There's a lot of news about autism and crime these days and I think it's worth some open discussion because the reasons are varied but the blame seems to be quite singular. 

I don't believe that the amount of crime among individuals on the autism spectrum is any higher than the crime rate for the general population. In fact, many of the attributes of autism such as a preference for isolation, should contribute to it being lower. Nevertheless, there are criminals on the spectrum and there are some attributes which are common to autism which could make an individual more likely to commit a crime.

"Us and THEM"

There's no doubt about it, people on the autism spectrum often seem different to the general population. This difference in itself creates some issues;

The "Us and them" divide often leads to ostracisation within school, workplaces and social groups with people on the spectrum being clearly in the minority. In schools, it can lead to physical bullying, name calling and exclusion. In the workplace, it can lead to harrassment, manipulation, rejection or simply to a lack of advancement. Whatever the details, the effect on the individual is often the same; envy and resentment.

Envy and resentment are strong emotions which together could tempt an individual into to criminal activity. 

The other way in which the "us and them" divide is responsible for autism being linked to crime is that when a particularly horrific crime is committed, people want to distance themselves from it. One of the ways they do this is to find a way to make the perpetrator seem "different from the rest of us". 

Obviously having a perpetrator with a clear defect, like blindness or deafness simply doesn't work. These things are quantifiable. You can simulate these conditions by putting your hands over your eyes or your fingers in your ears.

To make a person truly different, you have to choose something that is considerably less well understood. Asperger's syndrome and Autism fits that bill rather well and the media is very much complicit.

I've lost count of the number of times I've read about people with massive gun collections and ties to Nazi groups who go on a shooting spree. Rather than bring up the two most significant elements, the media fixates on a "possible" diagnosis of autism.

This gives society a way to say, it's not guns, it's not Nazi's, it's just this kid or worse, it's just THESE people. 

The result of this is that the true causes of these crimes are covered up and people with autism are even further ostracised.


Emotions

For years, people with autism have been described as having "no emotions" or "no empathy" when, as I've mentioned many times before, the truth is that people with autism fail to communicate their feelings well. It's very common for people with autism to have facial expressions which don't match circumstances or to find themselves accused of being amused when things are sad. 

A person with autism may choose to ignore some sad news and go about their daily routine or may throw themselves into their special interest rather than deal with an issue. This doesn't mean that they don't care. In fact, often it means that they're trying to distance themselves from feelings which are simply too strong for them to handle.

This seeming "lack of emotion" often means that people with autism are judged as "stone cold killers" in what are really crimes of passion. They may seem to show no remorse for their victims but just because you can't see an emotion on someone's face, it doesn't mean that the emotion is not present.

If you look at the vast majority of high profile autism crime, it seems that there's a bit of a revenge "vibe" to it. Often it's about giving bullies payback or it's about unrequited love. I'm not for a minute saying that it's right, simply that these aren't cold blooded crimes, they're crimes of passion.

Black and White Thinking

Issues of Justice go hand in hand with those of emotion and in particular, of revenge.

People with autism tend to be bound by rules which are very black and white. The problem of course, is that our world is governed by situations of grey.



This means that when it comes to situations like "payback" or "revenge" a person with autism may feel justified in carrying out an act of violence against an aggressor -- even if the transgressions in question happened many years ago.

The fact that people with autism find it difficult to let go of painful situations, have long memories and find communication quite difficult exacerbates the situations. While other people in similar situations will try to talk through an issue, a person with autism may decide that actions speak louder than words.

Generalisation

Does this mean that all people with autism are bad or that all are criminals? Of course not. Everyone has within them the ability to commit criminal activities and people with autism in particular, with their black and white thinking and their generally honest natures are probably less likely to commit petty crimes.

When it comes to crimes of the heart however, it's important to note that the emotional nature of people with autism and the possibility of meltdowns can make them a more volatile person. Additionally, their status as a person who is different can make them more of a target and their naivety may make them vulnerable to undesirable social groups. 


Most people with autism are unlikely to commit crimes but their upbringing most certainly will have an impact on this. Interactions with negative people and proximity to dangerous weapons while dangerous for most people, are particularly dangerous to people on the autism spectrum. 

Expose anyone to a violent upbringing and you'll significantly increase the chances of them becoming violent themselves. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
"and their naivety may make them vulnerable to undesirable social groups. "

Yup. Some folks see guys who don't have much luck attracting girls and promote very old-fashioned standards to them, standards of societies in the past that would let these guys get away with forced marriage and rape (that is, getting girls *without* attracting them). >:(

Did you see https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/the-rise-of-weaponized-autism-2 too?
Oren Franz2 said…
But it depends on the severity of ASD.

Autism is a spectrum developmental disorder that goes from profound Learning Disorder or profound Intellectual Disability to Autism without any Learning or Intellectual Disorder. the third problem is that you can have Autism or any communication disorder without having Learning or Intellectual Disability.


It is rare for a person with Intellectual Disability to commit crimes on their own and are more likely to be victims, because they have problems with Learning and have problems with Intellectual and adaptive functioning. However there are exceptions and reports that some people with developmental disorders commit crimes, because they are high-functioning. Statistics says that most people with mental health and developmental disorders are more likely to be victims than being perpetrators compare to people in the general population. However we should be careful, because not everyone in the general population commit crimes ether.

But I wanted to ask if death penalty should only be used as a last resort, not as punishment or revenge, but for the sake of safety for others if there is proof that a person is constantly being dangerous and is trying to escape, regardless if they have mental health and developmental disorders. But other than that I have mixed feeling about the death penalty, because some people can be wrongly convicted for death penalty.



Sources of the study of who will more likely to be victims or criminals:

https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/mental-health-myths-facts



Sources of some criminals with mental health and developmental disorders:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27185105/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00223980.2016.1175998

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17615427/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0306624X07302056

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20024608/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-009-0917-y

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18449633/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-008-0580-8

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26510628/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0306624X15612719

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4710161/

https://journals.lww.com/hrpjournal/Fulltext/2016/01000/Template_to_Perpetrate__An_Update_on_Violence_in.2.aspx

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14600312/

https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ps.54.11.1519

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5789215/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29398933/

https://www.google.com/search?q=Sky+Walker+Autism&oq=Sky+Walker+Autism&aqs=chrome..69i57j35i39.8710j0j7&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
Oren Franz2 said…
My explanation why some criminal are part of ASD community.


Most studies say that people with ASD are more likely to be victims than being perpetrators. While that is true, that statement is too broad, people with co-morbid diagnosis of Intellectual Disability and Autism are actually 20 times more likely to be victims than being perpetrators, compare to people who are higher functioning end of the autistic spectrum. Another problem why that statement from most studies is too broad, it is because the diagnostic criteria for Pervasive Developmental Disorders became more broad for the last decade and it was lumped as Autism Spectrum Disorder, and it's broad to the point where even some people with Antisocial Personality Disorder can be considered to have Autism Spectrum Disorder.

A lot of you guys wonder why more criminals happened to have diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder than a decade earlier, it is because the diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder is a lot more broad than it was a decade ago. It was thought that only people with Intellectual Disabilities have Pervasive Developmental Disorder, but after few years, they made the diagnostic criteria for ASD more broad to include people who have symptoms of PDD but without Intellectual Disability, and after few more years, the diagnostic criteria became more broad to include Asperger Syndrome. And In 2013, it was lumped as Autism Spectrum Disorder, and and recently it was lumped as Autism Spectrum Disorder in ICD-11.

It's is true that most people with ASD are more likely to be victims than being perpetrators, but if we get more technical, people who have ASD without Intellectual Disability are more likely to commit crimes than people who are Intellectually Disabled. There are some people with Intellectual Disability that commit crimes, but it's so rare, because the diagnostic criteria for Intellectual Disability includes problem with Intellectual and adaptive functioning. People with ASD without Intellectual Disability are able to to neurotypical tasks and some people with ASD without Intellectual Disability are able to defend themselves than people Intellectual Disability.

Since, the diagnostic criteria for Autism because more broad for the last decade, I wonder if I am correct that if there are some crimes that with ASD without Intellectual Disabilities are more likely to commit, but due to lack of social skills and repetitive behaviors.

You guys are wondering why more criminals happened to have ASD than a decade ago, it's because the diagnostic criteria for Pervasive Developmental Disorders became more broad for the last decade and lumped as Autism Spectrum Disorder in recent years.

There are a lot of people that say it's impossible to have Antisocial Personality Disorder and ASD, but the problem is that the diagnostic criteria for ASD is much more broad than a decade ago, that it's is considered possible to have co-morbidity diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder and ASD.

Now, you know why more criminals happened to have ASD than a decade ago.

Anonymous said…
I live in the UK and have seen a lot of people with Autism walk free because they play on their Autism and act dumb, a Domestic Violence Support Worker I recently had due to my Autistic ex stated that Autistics can be very manipulative and play the system resulting in "No Further Action". The UK is far too soft on those what are Neurodiverse, they should at least be sectioned under the Mental Health Act just as it was decades ago.

I also read about a boy hacking Rockstar Games, he has been arrested, charged and sectioned as there are concerns about his violent behaviour towards others. My Autistic ex can also become violent, she's assaulted 9 people from what I know of, most of these are exs plus she's previously been arrested.
Gavin Bollard said…
Anonymous, as a general rule, a true autistic person will lack the insight to be manipulative. It's one of the reasons why it is said that you cannot be both autistic and psychopathic.

I'm not sure that I agree as I've seen some autistic people displaying traits of both. You can never say "never". Combinations are always possible, though sometimes less common.

I think that the punishments for crimes in general tend to be too soft or too misdirected and that a person's background factors into it too much. I've noticed that many of today's big crimes are being committed by people who are "known to the police" or who were on "home detention" for one thing or another.

Personally, I think that crimes that hurt actual people need to be charged more than crimes that simply affect wealth (for example, an assault crime should be punished more than video piracy) but the legal system doesn't function the way we would like it to.

The US, for example has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world but I don't think that it is doing much to reduce the incidence of crime. Lockups are good for violent crime but they're not the best solution for non-violent crime.

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