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aspergers used as excuse too much

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SickInDaHead
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11 Sep 2012, 8:41 pm

Callista wrote:
Yes, I do. Asperger's doesn't impair moral reasoning; Aspies who break the law are virtually always as responsible for their own actions as NTs who break the law.

The one exception I can think of where Asperger's really might be to blame is when a socially naive Aspie is "put up to" an illegal act by a bully or an NT sociopath that they have mistakenly come to admire. Sometimes, when you are that naive, you really can end up giving in without realizing that what you are doing is illegal, or without thinking about it deeply enough to make a proper decision. These are minor crimes--things like public indecency when an Aspie girl is persuaded to flash somebody on a dare; or unwitting participation in crimes like shoplifting by an Aspie who doesn't realize that he has been persuaded to do something like distract the employees.

Someone with AS who hacks into a computer network understands that what he's doing is illegal. He may be so tempted that it is much harder for him to resist than it would be for an NT; but then, there are NTs who are very vulnerable to alcoholism and are similarly tempted toward crimes like drunk driving or public intoxication. If we don't excuse an alchoholic for driving drunk, we shouldn't excuse an Aspie hacker.

However, our justice systems should understand that criminals with disabilities often require accommodation within the justice system just as they do in everyday life. Providing an effective defense for an easily misled defendant is important. Protecting him from abuse by other prisoners--many of whom have the exact personalities of elementary-school bullies--is essential, perhaps even to the point of placing them in protective custody within a prison. And while AS should generally not be a factor in determining guilt or innocence, it may be a mitigating factor in sentencing. Just like an alcoholic may be sentenced to rehab rather than prison, a judge might consider that someone with AS would have had a harder time resisting a crime; the sentence for an AS hacker might include something like taking a class on computer ethics.




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11 Sep 2012, 10:07 pm

TheSunAlsoRises wrote:
Let me iterate: Your Autism, your relatives Autism, your friends Autism, your neighbors Autism, etc is not indicative of everyone else. Can people with so-called 'Low Functioning Autism' understand 'wrong doing' ? Ofcourse, many can. This is not my argument. As a matter of fact, quite a few Autists who have identified themselves as "low functioning Autistics" on this site express themselves far more articulate than ANYONE regardless of neurology.

What I am stating is THAT there is the possibility ,do to a condition that can greatly impair socialization(with co-morbids that are not easily separable), that Autistics judgement can be affected....(and I'm not willing to put a limit on the extent of a crime)....

TheSunAlsoRises


Just a thought but being able to type well is hardly an indication that one is high functioning in all aspects of life.


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11 Sep 2012, 10:10 pm

philippepetit wrote:
TheSunAlsoRises wrote:
mmcool wrote:
i think that aspergers is used as excuse too much. will killers and computer hackers using it as a way to get out of trouble
aspergers is not that major of a thing people with it should still know the diffences between right and wrong.
people with aspergers should still be done under the extent of the law.


do you agree ?


It's a spectrum. It depends on how Autism and any co-morbids are expressed in the indivdual.

An ethical question would be: IS it humane to place a person with social impairments(due to a medical condition) amongst a general prison population...

I think there is a reason they are holding off on closing the Judge Rotenberg Center.

TheSunAlsoRises
it's not ethical to put anybody in a us prison, lol
barbaric


good point.


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19 Jun 2020, 9:28 pm

Even though I agree that people with medical conditions are more likely to be victims, that does not mean that people with medical conditions never perpetrate



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19 Jun 2020, 9:29 pm

People like me with one or more Developmental Disorders are also far more likely to commit crimes than a moderate to profoundly developmentally delayed population, because people with moderate to profound forms of developmental delays have health problems and Intellectual disabilities that might prevent them from being perpetrators at all



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19 Jun 2020, 9:30 pm

I would not be surprised if a criminal was found to have history of developmental delay, it is because a Developmental Disorder can be milder to the point where you don't even know that you have developmental delay while doing neurotypical things at the same time



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19 Jun 2020, 9:30 pm

I do not trust criminal statistics, I am sure that there are criminals with Developmental Disorders and If they are profoundly developmentally delayed, then I agree that they are more likely to be victims and also because at one point in time, even more will be diagnosed with Developmental Disorders in the future than now



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19 Jun 2020, 9:30 pm

Just because I have history of being diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Intellectual Disability, Conduct Disorder and Bipolar Disorder, that does not mean that I am not capable of being a criminal, especially because my symptoms of developmental delay is now milder than before



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20 Jun 2020, 4:24 pm

Okay, here's a thing: In the UK, around 1-2% of the population have autism spectrum disorder. Of those, I'm not sure how many are Aspies but, clearly, a smaller proportion of the population again. Given the hundreds of stories you read in the news and see on TV each day/week, how often does the excuse of having Asperger's come up? In the UK at least, it's rarely mentioned in news stories, and not because of reporting restrictions. I don't think it's over-used. I still think we're not properly supported and things would be better for us if we were.

Because of the terrible way some police officers treat people, I now carry a National Autistic Society 'I have autism' card in my wallet in case I witness something or somehow get involved in something and need time out before I need to communicate.


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13 Sep 2020, 4:22 pm

Thank you