Legal Justice dealng with someone with Autism, I can tell you from experience, not very good.

My son had what we now know was a meltdown, he was behaving strangely, and came in one night telling his mum he had thought about killing himself. We got the crisis team involved, and after a four days of them telling us there was nothing to worry about, on the fifth day they reported to us that he had said something to them and they were that worried they informed the police, this was the result of him obsessing about a short term relationship, and him excessively contacting her. The meltdown came as he had been in trouble before and had a restraining order, this was preying on his mind because the girls father was a police officer. He ended up being sectioned and spent  3 weeks in hospital, where he was diagnosed with association disorder, brought on by stress, he was tested for Autism and scored high. After 3 weeks, upon discharge he was arrested, and charged, to cut a long story short, he was treat like any other person, at the police station, in court by the judge and CPS they made no allowances no concessions for his mental state of mind when he told the mental health worker his thoughts, I obtained copies of his notes whilst in hospital, and it seems from these that the hospital was reporting everything to the police. I have learned a lot about Autism in the last year, how obsessive they get, how they plan everything to great detail, sometimes to the point of fantasy, yet no one has ever took any of this into consideration. So although there seems to be awareness training, A great deal more needs to be done even in a mental health hospital, they were using comments like-  x was seen smirking and smiling to himself, why did they seem surprised if they were fully understanding of Autism, the same comments were used by the mental health professional before he went into hospital, and the CPS used these comments in court, so legal system dealing with someone with Autism, in my opinion it is a joke, as long as they get a conviction they really do not care 3 years in prison proves this

You cant go around touching 5 year olds you need to look for help to avoid getting in trouble with this

For anyone still reading this, in Scotland at least if you are being physically bullied you have every right to hit back. Unfortunately, you can't hit someone just for calling you names, but if you felt reasonably physically threatened i.e. in immediate danger of assault, you're even allowed to make the first hit. This would be for example if he/she raised his/her voice and moved toward you aggressively, without putting their hands on you.

Note that you will need to prove that he/she made you feel threatened, and not just insulted, which can be easy or difficult depending on which particular officers handle the case and what evidence is available (i.e. complete footage, corroborating witnesses, etc). Note also that an insult can be considered a threat depending on the context - i.e. stranger at close range calls you a retard out of nowhere, you're probably about to get jumped. If he's within arm's reach you can probably get away with a reflexive twitch to the face.

If he puts his hands on you at any point you're free to attack, within reason. You can't mame him, or kick him too much while he's down, or intentionally snap his bones, but you can hit him with i.e. an elbow to the face. Pushing is definitely acceptable if he's being physical, but I'd recommend using the elbow instead because pushing might not get the point across and he could become more violent (which would still be his fault).

Basically in that case he's being aggressive already, and it's up to you to decide whether you're going to give another warning, or try to neutralise the threat. You have no reasonable way of knowing what someone will do to you when they behave aggressively. They might slap you, might kill you, might even rape you. You don't have to take those risks.

Remember to also be as civil as possible with the police and justice system. It can go a long way. You want to show them that you're not dangerous, and not unfriendly. It's probably natural to feel hostile to them especially if you expect to be treated unfairly, but it won't work in your favour if you're charged with assault and they need 4 coppers to hold you down.

Personally I think the rules are fairly smart (at least over here) but you should be able to do more than that, because bullying is a serious problem that society doesn't do enough about (I suspect this won't be changing any time soon because it benefits the majority). It's not really anyone's business how I deal with my bully, and they need to learn the hard way not to bother people they don't know, but we all have to follow the law because the government has the monopoly on violence.

well guys, based on the criminal justice for autism, this is what i've found out. you are legally responsable at the age of 12 which means you can be prosecuted if you commit any crimes except you get send to a juvenile when you are under 18. And when you are 16, you will be prosecuted for commit sex crimes against a minor.

but when is come to special need, it all change well it depends on their capacity, functioning level and background. usually when a severe autistic people (especially those with intellectual disability) or someone who has severe depression, the criminal justice are dealt with differently e.g, they would set a different boundry and say if they did something serious like injuring someone seriously, then they would be send to a mental hospital as in this situation, they might be consider as very depressed so they might need a special care.

something like hiting or shoving other for severe autistic people, if is happen once or twice, they usually slide away with it which means no police will get involved. 

but for high functioning people, is very depends on the situation.

well i am working on a project about how police deal with autism violent behaviour with criminal justice. but in my life, although i'm not that kind of person, i know plenty of severe autistic adult (especially those sevre with intellectual disability), they often hit other when they get upset but never got arrested for just one slap against anyone of any age.

is this forum more for asperger people i wander. because interacting with children as a late teen person (around 16-19) with autism is very common for those who has delay development and classic autism. but people in this forum are disagree with me for doing that just because of the age difference. i even saw a severly autistic girl who is 25 years old and still interact with children age 5 in the playground and no one even care about her doing that. all her mum would just say to other parent that she is autistic and sometimes she loves the company of the children and other parent dont mind and even think that girl is very friendly with their children. 

so i wander is this forum more for asperger people. because i have delay development maybe you guys dont so disagree with me of interacting with other children?

Autistic Adrian said:

i dont understand, well i'm telling you, i am autistic, about this quote " this way of doing things is a natural order of society that everybody must live with and must follow as a essential routine." i do not have to follow the age appropriate and social norm as these are rubbish. why does an autistic person need a mainstream rubbish to slave me to do something that are hurting my world. well the law should only focus on keeping people safe and interacting with children are safe. i am not hurting them, they are fine with that. people who concern about me because of my age, they are just a coward. autistic people should not be slaved to follow age apropriate and social norm. if the mainstream want to slave people with age appriate and social norm, put it on the normal people, not us autistic people. stupid mainstream. don't know why autistic adult cant be interacting with other children just because of their age. so agist.

https://community.autism.org.uk/f/introduce-yourself/16783/experience-with-therapist/126507#126507

i dont understand, well i'm telling you, i am autistic, about this quote " this way of doing things is a natural order of society that everybody must live with and must follow as a essential routine." i do not have to follow the age appropriate and social norm as these are rubbish. why does an autistic person need a mainstream rubbish to slave me to do something that are hurting my world. well the law should only focus on keeping people safe and interacting with children are safe. i am not hurting them, they are fine with that. people who concern about me because of my age, they are just a coward. autistic people should not be slaved to follow age apropriate and social norm. if the mainstream want to slave people with age appriate and social norm, put it on the normal people, not us autistic people. stupid mainstream. don't know why autistic adult cant be interacting with other children just because of their age. so agist.

Autistic Adrian said:

based on this quote "this way of doing things is a natural order of society that everybody must live with and must follow as a essential routine. Just because you may never get into problems with the law regarding interactions with children involving your special interests in Disney characters and fairytale themed games, people cannot get used to letting their guard down because you are lovely and mean no harm whatsoever. There are too many people who accidentally get involved with or purposefully take advantage of vulnerable children and adults, and your safety as much as everyone else’s is really, really important. Keep this very much in mind ~ your safety is as much important as anyone else’s." what does that mean?

“If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” – Dr. Stephen Shore.

interacting with children is not against the law especially for someone with autism. to exaggerate this, even a predator dont get into trouble for just interacting with children until they had sexually assaulted the child. an autistic grown person interacting with the children will not get into trouble with the law. 

based on this quote "this way of doing things is a natural order of society that everybody must live with and must follow as a essential routine. Just because you may never get into problems with the law regarding interactions with children involving your special interests in Disney characters and fairytale themed games, people cannot get used to letting their guard down because you are lovely and mean no harm whatsoever. There are too many people who accidentally get involved with or purposefully take advantage of vulnerable children and adults, and your safety as much as everyone else’s is really, really important. Keep this very much in mind ~ your safety is as much important as anyone else’s." what does that mean?

Autistic Adrian said:

what age is the criminal responsability of age? and over what age can be charge with assaulting other in the street?

Quote:

"The age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10 years old. This means that children under 10 can't be arrested or charged with a crime. ... Children between 10 and 17 can be arrested and taken to court if they commit a crime."

https://www.cps.gov.uk/youth-crime

And:

Age of criminal responsibility

The age of criminal responsibility is covered by Section 52 of the Children Act 2001 as amended by Section 129 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006. This came into effect in October 2006, raising the age of criminal responsibility from 7 years of age to 12 years of age. This means that children who have not reached the age of 12 years cannot be charged with an offence. There is an exception, however, for children aged 10 or 11 who can be charged with murder, manslaughter, rape or aggravated sexual assault. In addition, where a child under 14 years of age is charged with an offence, no further proceedings can be taken without the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Although the 2001 Act in general prohibits children under 12 years of age from being charged and convicted of a criminal offence, they do not enjoy total immunity from action being taken against them. Section 53 of the Act as amended by Section 130 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 places an onus on the Gardai to take a child under 12 years of age to his/her parents or guardian, where they have reasonable grounds for believing that the child has committed an offence with which the child cannot be charged due to the child’s age. Where this is not possible the Gardai will arrange for the child to be taken into the custody of the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) for the area in which the child normally resides. It is possible that children under 12 years of age who commit criminal offences will be dealt with by Tusla and not the criminal justice system.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/children_and_young_offenders/children_and_the_criminal_justice_system_in_ireland.html

And for charges of assault in Norther Ireland:

Autistic Adrian said:

base on this quote "Well autism is not a free pass for 'anything' in that it it requires 'special' or 'particular' consideration regarding 'social interaction and communication difficulties', ", then that's even a big torture to them. why do they need to be slaved to be interacting like other. why cant they interact the way they interact with other. autism should be another world for them to be comfortable. well i take autism as a freepass on anything as long as everyone is safe.

Unfortunately you have misquoted and misunderstood me ~ being that I stated:

Deepthought said:

Well autism is not a free pass for 'anything' in that it it requires 'special' or 'particular' consideration regarding 'social interaction, imagination and communication difficulties', and of course 'overindulging' in anything is problematic as every behavior or activity requires to be moderated in a reasonable law abiding way.

Meaning that it is not an even greater ‘torture’ for you or anyone else with autism, but that more ‘consideration’ is required from non-autistic people about autistic people’s social interaction, communication and imagination difficulties ~ as according to the 2010 Equality Act involving reasonable adjustments.

.

Being that autistic people’s emotional development can tend to be about half that of their mental and physical age, it may be that your emotional and mental development is in part being well done by way of playing Disney and fairytale games as you do with those younger children ~ providing of course their parents continue to approve as responsible adults that watch over you too.

.

Responsible adult / parental observation is important in this respect given that although you are coming to the end of your teenage years physically ~ you are perhaps just starting to become a teenager mentally and emotionally.

.

As such then your parents and therapist and other parents have to be aware of this ~ given that most people start having sexual drives during their teenage years, and this is so for most whether they are late developers or not. Hence your therapist is working with you to help you engage with people who are of a similar physical age ~ in order to allow for such developments to occur if they are going to, and in order to prevent you from getting into possibly very serious difficulties if they occur with children who are not then sixteen.

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This way of doing things is a natural order of society that everybody must live with and must follow as a essential routine. Just because you may never get into problems with the law regarding interactions with children involving your special interests in Disney characters and fairytale themed games, people cannot get used to letting their guard down because you are lovely and mean no harm whatsoever. There are too many people who accidentally get involved with or purposefully take advantage of vulnerable children and adults, and your safety as much as everyone else’s is really, really important. Keep this very much in mind ~ your safety is as much important as anyone else’s.

.

Perhaps then discuss with your therapist that it is reasonable that you share your special interest with children when their parents permit you do so, and in terms of having interactions with people that are of a similar age to yourself and in fact much older ~ you are doing so here, which at very least should be reasonable to your therapist and worth as such you being congratulated upon.

.

It should though in my opinion be considered unreasonable to entirely stop you from interacting with children who enjoy your imaginative company and whose parents appreciate it also, so maybe as such check that you have not misunderstood the request made of you by your therapist, and clarify that what she has asked of your involves that you need to have and develop more mature friendships as a balance also ~ as time goes on little by little and bit by bit. It is unreasonable to ask you to just stop living your life as you have been, and yet more unreasonable to expect you to start living a life that you are not yet ready for.

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It might help for instance if you ask your therapist to write out for you what the treatment plan for you actually is; so that you may better understand it, and if she is discriminating against you unawares ~ you can seek further guidance from the NAS or any other Autistic advisory service, or else even get in touch with an advocacy service to act on your behalf to help your therapist to help you more, or to find one better suited to helping you.

what age is the criminal responsability of age? and over what age can be charge with assaulting other in the street?

and well i never commit crimes. i never experince being in trouble with the police. well that is true that in the past, i was bullied by other physically but all i did was just push them away in a safe place as a way to protect myself with a right level of force.

well i'm not violent. i never got violent with these children i play with. lots of these children parent thinks i'm very good with children. why would i be violent to someone who is nice to me and share interest like me. i always play lots of fun toys and make up story with children so as other autistic people of all age.

Adrian, I understand the temptation to lash out, you must be very frustrated with all of these things going on that you have no control over, but please, PLEASE DO NOT DO IT.  The last thing you need on top of the troubles you already have is the criminal justice system interfering with your life.  Your current situation will seem like a cakewalk compared to the hoops you'll be forced to jump through after a conviction.  And on top of that, as others have said, people are naturally protective of their children.  They're going to be a lot more cautions of allowing you around their children if they think there's a chance you could become violent.

base on this quote "Well autism is not a free pass for 'anything' in that it it requires 'special' or 'particular' consideration regarding 'social interaction and communication difficulties', ", then that's even a big torture to them. why do they need to be slaved to be interacting like other. why cant they interact the way they interact with other. autism should be another world for them to be comfortable. well i take autism as a freepass on anything as long as everyone is safe.

then that's just givng depression to someone with autism if they dont have a freepass on anything. that's just like verbally torturing someone with autism. well if they were behaving like a child as an adult, that should be a freepass. people with autsim sometimes does developed until the age of  a kid. but if they hurt themself or other because of the unfairness or distress, then make things fair or reduce the distress by do what they want. not what the society want.

about insulting, well i am being insulted by the society like that. having autism is not freepass to be a child.

and for pushing, why is it unacceptable if that was someone attacking you. like if you just push someone for no reason (especially against the elderly) then that's not acceptable. like i even seen a 10 years old were attacking that man and when that man push him away and he just fell on the ground with no injuries, that man didnt get arested for that. i know when it come to self defense, is not about age is about using right force. well everyone of any age has the right to self defense physically from the attacker of any age.

That really is just awful. I hate that, as a subset of the disability community, we are so especially vulnerable to unjust accusations and then left to suffer the consequences on our own (and at our own cost).

I'm at home at the moment due to ill health so hopefully I'll see you around these forums a bit more. Maybe you could add an avatar and username to your Profile? So many "NAS<random number>" types knocking about. Take good care. Xx

Basically the case was one sided I believe because the only interest of the police and CPS is to secure a conviction, the court is there to decide if I done something or not rather than to look at the whole picture from a logical perspective.

The police did not investigate my counter allegation properly so they didnt bother to retreive phone records or messages which would have shown the complainer harassing me and asking me to do the things which I was charged for. I had screenshots and emails but the police tried to FOB me off and tell me they couldnt be used as evidence or it was just a coincidence that she had taken pictures in the same places where I had on 8 or 9 occassions shortly after I'd been.

My lawyer basically said that although I had some screenshots, it was risky to go to trial because the complainer and police were good at acting all the "fear and alarm" I had caused by annoying her back on Facebook. He said the screenshots would just be used against me to prove that there was a link between us and that I was responsible. From his experience the court is happy to convict people in this way all the time. When the crime is causing "fear and alarm" it's very easy for the legislation to be manipulated into prosecuting anyone for almost anything because it's so subjective.

The police even categorised the case as domestic even though I had only met the complainer 3 times  (who is also married) to use the domestic legislation to avoid investigating the other party.

I do not plan to work again after this because I simply cannot cope with the anxiety of a criminal record even if someone did employ me with it, but I do look at online things to make money so I'm quite content doing that whilst getting benefits just now