Autism

Committing crimes doesn't mean that someone is immoral or doesn't care about someone. Most crimes happen in the heat of the moment, when someone is very emotionally dysregulated.

Getting deeply, irrationally and obsessively upset about things that might seem random and pointless is a very common trait associated with Autism. Crimes can happen when someone is in that state. Doesn't mean that their surroundings didn't fail them, but there also is a factor of personal responsibility.

I wouldn't say that the simplified "Crime because of Autism" is a very nuanced way to see it, but I do believe that some traits of Autism could lead to a higher chance to commit some crimes 🤷 But honestly, most mental illnesses and neurodivergencies are like that.

it is really concerning to see most commenters taking the claim that autistic people are more likely to commit crime at face value, not only doing so without any data to back it up, but also unaware (or willfully ignorant) that the data says otherwise: autistic people are more likely to be victims of violent crime than allistic people. this is a dangerous narrative fueled by preexisting hatred of neurodivergent people that only serves to further marginalize us.

this kind of narrative is unfortunately the expected anywhere else, but seeing it play out in a forum specifically about autism is particularly upsetting. if you're neurotypical and you're spreading this here, kindly go fuck yourself (also go look for actual data, not biased anecdotes by sensationalist media); if you're autistic, though, please please please do not believe this shit, you are the vulnerable side of autism, not the people around you.

Can you give an example?

Me giving an answer based on a hypothetical I thought of, followed by disagreement by someone based on a hypothetical they thought of, is not effective discussion.

Besides the reason given by @[email protected] which is a very real situation rarely considered by policy makers.

Sometimes laws don’t always align with morality. What morality eventually means is always subjective but many of us carry a deep desire for objective justice and are strongly opposed to going against their own moral code.

I generally don't break laws because the ones i encounter tend to make sense, most traffic laws. But a law also does nothing to stop me if i see no sense in following it.

Autistic people tend to run counter to norms. Laws are basically just norms. This makes autistic people frequently both victims of discrimination and perpetrators of crimes. I also think autistic people tend to be deeply frustrated by society and this makes us lash out from time to time.

I feel the same way about autism as when most any disease or disorder is used as the reason as to why someone would commit a crime: it's only a part and isn't always relevant to the crime.

I don't think that having autism is necessarily a defense and on its own certainly doesn't justify an insanity defense.

Obviously, most autistic are not likely to commit a serious non victimless crime. There are some crimes were autistic people are over represented, but on average they are less likely to commit violent crimes.

The empathy issue is complicated though. From what I understand, autistic people have more emotional empathy but less cognitive empathy. More cognitive empathy is also not always a good thing. Caring about other people can also lead to doing heinous things in the name of supposed compassion to people who are seen as perpetrators. It can also lead to evil acts that are seen as compassionate, such as euthanasia.

I figure if a specialist determines they're fit to stand trial then they're on the hook for whatever they did.