autism and criminal justice system

NAS now provides an autism training package for the police. I wonder what this involves.

The NAS website covers Criminal Justice with a Position Statement and some links. The Position Statement mentions stress and meltdown in unfamiliar environments, vulnerability to others taking advantage, and having difficulty following procedures.

Encounters with the Criminal Justice System must be crucial for parents, as so many issues could arise. Tony Attwood looks at this quite effectively in his complete guide to asperger's syndrome (pages 334-240). He includes some individuals being manipulative and experimenting with social situations or other people's reactions out of obsessive curiosity who could get themselves into trouble with the law. Special interests can lead to problems, like an excessive interest in cars drawing police attention, and confused sexuality can get them into trouble. Computer obsessions have led to hacking.

There have been instances of arson, stemming from experimentation, or injury done to others out of fear of bullies. And of course there is the iossue of being let astray trying to gain approval from unsuitable others. There are a lot of possibilities. So good advice on the criminal justice system and the police is invaluable.

The NAS website lists over a hundred solictors around the country, but less than 20% specifically mention autism, and only three of these are in London, some in small provincial centres. Most refer to learning disability, special education needs or mental health. Surely there is more legal knowledge specific to autism.

The website has a link to the Toolkit 3 from The Advocate's Gateway, a resource for courts about autism produced by Lexicon in 2013. There is a lot of useful information here, but the examples are worrying. I don't think it helps as much as it should.

Section 2 covers areas of difficulty, very much led by the triad. The example of rigid behaviour is an adult witness with autism who was permitted to give evidence wearing a lion's tail, which was his 'comfort object' in daily life. I've tried to find out what court case, but it is just an example in similar law papers, without source. What image of autism does this create?

On sensory sensitivity: "smells (even something as 'minor' as flavoured crisps) or colours, fabrics or materials (eg a different kind of chair might be needed). "Taking a short break to allow the person to calm down may save time in the long run".

I can see what they are trying to explain, but they do seem to have somewhat misunderstood the issues, or else their rather prurient illustrations suggest they are not really taking autism seriously. Are their lordships really getting the right kind of information?

The whole state of affairs over the criminal justice system is worrying. So I do hope these training courses are up to the mark.

Parents
  • No specialst solicitors found in the Wiltshire area. And used the list to look for one on NAS web pages to nothing local.  We used a dreadful solicitor who forced a full guilty charge where the judge worked out and reduced charge., but still no reports were done and no mitigation defence. . Probation were outrageous too. "You're using your ASD as an excuse!" From their mouths. Just still don't take needs serious. Next time round we could not find a specialist solicitor, he also does not take ASD seriously, but got the courts to pay for a psychiatic assesment.. told to plead guilty again, no defence side heard again, never seems to be a fair trial. What happened to listening to defendants? ASD adult wanted to plead not guilty, but the solicitor stopped him in the court room and forced the guilty plea dispite knowing circumstances the judge was not told. It's all so disgusting right now.

Reply
  • No specialst solicitors found in the Wiltshire area. And used the list to look for one on NAS web pages to nothing local.  We used a dreadful solicitor who forced a full guilty charge where the judge worked out and reduced charge., but still no reports were done and no mitigation defence. . Probation were outrageous too. "You're using your ASD as an excuse!" From their mouths. Just still don't take needs serious. Next time round we could not find a specialist solicitor, he also does not take ASD seriously, but got the courts to pay for a psychiatic assesment.. told to plead guilty again, no defence side heard again, never seems to be a fair trial. What happened to listening to defendants? ASD adult wanted to plead not guilty, but the solicitor stopped him in the court room and forced the guilty plea dispite knowing circumstances the judge was not told. It's all so disgusting right now.

Children
  • NAS36697,

    I'm sorry to hear about the lack of support you have experienced.  I see you have already used the NAS directory to look for services and not found a match, so you may like to contact our Autism Helpline team who could be able to help you further. You can call them on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm, Friday 9am to 3pm).Please note that the Helpline is experiencing a high volume of calls and it may take a couple of attempts before you get through to speak to an advisor.

    Please see the following link for further information:

    http://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/main.aspx

    Kind regards,

    Heather - Mod