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Negative portrayal on TV and discrimination

Robert124

Last night I was watching a documentary on C5 about the Rachel Nickel murder.  They made a clear comment that the actual killer, Robert Napper, had Asperger's syndrome.  Was that necessary?  Is it discrimination?  If they had talked about his race, religion, nationality or skin colour, there would have been an uproar.

Parents

  • This is entirely my opinion and I haven't seen it and I'm not likely to but I think for me it feels like it depends on how it was presented. If it was a passive description of mental health, something like "Robert Napper who has Asperger's syndrome and a history of depression..." then I wouldn't say it was particularly discriminatory given that crimes like murder do usually need to take mental states into account. Similarly to if someone had commented on a race-related crime mentioning race suddenly is relevant. 

    However, If they used it to try and insinuate it was a major contributing factor in why the murder was committed, something like "Robert Napper who committed the murder was taken into custody, it was later discovered under investigation he had Asperger's syndrome" Then yes I would say its unnecessary discrimination verging on outgroup fear-mongering. Saying it this way suggests people with Asperger's syndrome commit more murders and would be damaging in the same way it would be for any minority.

Reply

  • This is entirely my opinion and I haven't seen it and I'm not likely to but I think for me it feels like it depends on how it was presented. If it was a passive description of mental health, something like "Robert Napper who has Asperger's syndrome and a history of depression..." then I wouldn't say it was particularly discriminatory given that crimes like murder do usually need to take mental states into account. Similarly to if someone had commented on a race-related crime mentioning race suddenly is relevant. 

    However, If they used it to try and insinuate it was a major contributing factor in why the murder was committed, something like "Robert Napper who committed the murder was taken into custody, it was later discovered under investigation he had Asperger's syndrome" Then yes I would say its unnecessary discrimination verging on outgroup fear-mongering. Saying it this way suggests people with Asperger's syndrome commit more murders and would be damaging in the same way it would be for any minority.

Children