Autistic Man Jailed for Talking to Kids. Just Talking.

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https://reason.com/blog/2015/10/29/autistic-man-jailed-for-talking-to-kids

This is just missed up!

wow, guess we can't do anything anymore. thanx!

If he was just talking then surely no crime has been committed but if he has asked them to go to a cabin with him then I can see why that would look like he was trying to lure them away. If he genuinely didn't realise that was inappropriate then I hope he is cut some slack but what if they'd have said 'ok' and gone with him? That would be kidnapping whether the children go voluntarily or not.

No wonder I hate cops and the people who phone them. I also get paranoid when people use the cops as a scare tacit towards me, because I know how cops are around autistic people.

And this why I always keep to myself. People already think I'm weird and scary looking. No way I want to draw more attention to myself by being near children.

That's kind of the key hinge point.

Even if he did invite them to the cabin, I'm not a fan of huge punishment and the criminal justice system.

Fortunately, the man's mother is standing up for him. And hopefully, he has one or two other local advocates. The dynamic usually is that it's better having someone else speak for you, like getting a lawyer, that's the prime example.

I have an 8 yr old child. If someone approached my child in this way, yes, I would phone the cops.

I think that blog post is incredibly naive. It's implying that it's impossible for an autistic person to be sexually attracted to children. Just because someone's got mental difficulties doesn't mean they're a nice person. And peodophiles - unless they have very low IQ - don't typically sexually assault children in public, so the claim he couldn't have had bad intentions because he didn't touch them is nonsense. I don't think the parents can't be relied on because who wants to think their son is a peodophile?

On the other hand it might have been an entirely innocent conversation. As mentioned above, depending on his degree of autism and intelligence he might lack the social intelligence to befriend children and lure them away to assault them. I just hope it's investigated properly and his true intentions come to light - but I have poor faith in the justice system when it comes to understanding mental illness/differences.

So what you are saying is that men are not allowed to talk to your children, but women are, correct? Sounds good. I hope your 8 yr old child is not a boy.

I am absolutely disgusted by the fact that women today overreact and freak out about any man even saying hi to a teen or a child. I'm a woman, but honestly, at what point does this end? How would you feel if as a woman you had to watch your back all the time because if you even said hi to a kid the Dad could accuse you of trying to lure them somewhere or abuse them? Something is really off with society today.

PS funny how women claim that they don't have equal rights...geez

heh. i feel so sorry for kids sometimes. either way i hope his true intentions get noticed.



where?

It's the general tone of the article, but in particular when she writes, "A psychiatric evaluation will be performed on Daniel, and if it’s determined that his parents are not making up their son’s diagnosis, perhaps the charges will be dropped" ie if he's autistic, his interaction with the kids must have been innocent

Unless a law was passed that prevents adults from talking to children, I don't see how they could possibly convict him of anything. They have no evidence that he did anything other than talk to them. No physical contact was made and there is no record of exactly what was said.

Kate
The article doesn't imply that autistic people can't be pedophiles. It's just saying how ridiculous the charges are in this particular case. If the charges are dropped because he's autistic then that is on the police not the author of the article.