Are there autistic people who are psychopath/serial killer?

Post Reply New Topic

I wondered about this for quite a few reasons. I, like a lot of other people with autism, feel a lot of guilt and remorse, although I can't empath because I have Aspergers, but I think we can be sure that there are also autistic people who don't feel a lot of guilt or remorse, autism doesn't automatically correspond to having a great sense of guilt and remorse because every autistic person is different. I also heard of somebody who is specialised in autism and who deals with people with autism that she knew who were very loving, good-hearted people with Aspergers Syndrome, but she also knew a jerk with Aspergers Syndrome. And I think it's quite possible that there are people who can't empath in an autistic way, but if they empath also don't feel remorse just like a psychopath. What I wonder about is if there are, and if you know people with autism who are either a serial killer or a psychopath. I have been reading about serial killers a lot lately, but almost all these cases are people with psychopathy, what I wonder about is if there are like 1 or 2 autistic people among them too, why they do it and if they have a combination of autism and psychopathy.

Do you know people with autism who have a lack of remorse?

There have been some mass murderers and serial killers diagnosed with AS... I think Anders Breivik was diagnosed. The virginia tech shooter might have been diagnosed as a child, or suspected of being autistic. There are probably a number of serial killers, both presently and historically, who were AS to some degree but never diagnosed. As strange as it may sound I don't think it hinges on the "lack of empathy," rather, killing and death, and sexual sadism become obsessive interests. This coupled with the intense social isolation of AS can evolve into a toxic mixture.

Serial killers seem to fall into a few categories... the socially charming "double life" types, the loner awkward types, and the ones who were viciously abused as children and just grew up messed up in general.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

Sure.

Personality disorders are possible in all people.

I haven't done the math, but there seems to be a far higher portion of spree killers with an ASD than not in comparison to the normal control group (people who aren't spree killers); Martin, Anders, and a couple of others (you can probably include Cho too as his behavior described at college is clearly autistic).

Most of those were never diagnosed as autistic, except in the press.

I guess that Anders Breivik was the only one diagnosed with it? I think it might be possible, but to me Breivik doesn't really seem like autistic.

There was one in Australia who was diagnosed with it.

Actually, Martin Bryant had more diagnoses, if I recall correctly, and didn't meet the criteria for AS.

Breivik is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Someone else testifying as an expert witness said he had: Asperger syndrome, Tourette syndrome, narcissistic personality disorder and possibly paranoid psychosis.

When talking about these things, I think it should be clear that people diagnosed with many of these things are more likely to be targets for violence rather than perpetrators of violence.

Martin Bryant Might possibly have only been a fall guy like James Earl Ray (even the King family is skeptical he did it).

Ted Kaczynski and William Freund were killers. Jeff Leurs was an arsonist who was likely exploited to be a fall guy for the ELF.

There have been others on the spectrum that have been tried for murder and other crimes, but attracted little if any media attention. It's still rare though.

Nope, just AS there with Martin. The only reason he didn't meet AS as per the DSM-IV-TR was due to a speech delay, which would mean AD (or AS with a different criteria). The opposition's psychiatrist provided inaccurate information regarding AS in his refutation of the Crown's diagnosis. His mother confirmed he received AS too later on.

Two reports with Anders: the first with Schizophrenia, but it changed to AS + Narcissistic PD (O, and the psychoses you mention), which fits better. He wasn't deemed "insane" though, so primary psychotic disorders would be out. This would lead to an ASD for his social eccentricities and fixations, with the PD there for the path to criminal actions.

There's two with an ASD from about seven big ones (those two, Cho, Dublane, Giffords, Columbine, and the several other mall and school ones). Around 1 in 10 is a high incidence. Of note though, they all tend to have mental disorders of some type (rather than just saying they're anti-social).

Rare occurrences, of course, but interesting nonetheless that certain populations are overrepresented here.

Also interesting that the same populations are underrepresented in other ways regarding violent behavior.

http://kildall.apana.org.au/autism/articles/bryant.html

Just want to say one thing about Breivik; He was 'diagnosed' with AS by the country's 'leading psychiatrist' without the expert having ever met him face to face.

I don't think lack of remorse is limited to serial killers. You can find lack of remorse in vigilantes also. I think if you want to see lack of remorse in ASD vigilantes are where you want to look. You can start with Bernhard Goetz who has absolutely no remorse over what he did.

You can't empathize because you have aspergers? Sorry, but that's is a load of crock.

People with autism express empathy differently to NT, it does not mean we lack empathy at all.

Sure there are people on the spectrum who lack empathy, but that is true of most groups of people.

You will find this among nuerotypicals, you will find this with people who suffer from depression, you will find this with schizophrenics, or someone who has had a bad upbringing etc...

As for the actual question... Sure there have been murderers diagnosed with autism. In fact, I read about someone who was a member from here who was exactly that.

But again, you cannot limit murderous or criminal behavior to any one thing in particular. People have different motives, often times serial killers are attempting to satisfy their unusual sexual needs, some people who commit murder are wanting to inherit money or cover up their infidelity, so on and so forth.

You have to be more than just autistic to be capable of murdering someone without any sense of guilt and remorse.

Who was a member here that became a serial killer?