Published on 12, July, 2020
I have noticed an increase in the media and defence lawyers using ASD as an excuse for those offenders that commit the most serious of crimes.
I feel the only mental health defence that is permittable is when you are deemed by law to be Criminally Insane.
It really pisses me off when the media say the preprtator is a LONER or has ASD.
I am a loner and have been all my life and recently diagnosed as Austistic, I still knew right from wrong.
I think its offensive to tag ASD to these criminals as us all get tarred with the same brush and people will worry if we are potential killers because of our ASD.
What are your thoughts? Could the NAS not contact the media and tell them to stop saying the preprtator is on the spectrum or ASD?.
I agree. The knowledge that a defendant is autistic may be relevant to the case and may be something that should be made known to the jury, but it is not something that the general public needs to know as it ends up reinforcing negative stereotypes, especially when they make the statement in isolation without any clarifying data, such as why it is relevant to the case
I too agree, most of us know the difference between right and wrong, the only thing I can think of where ASC could be part of a defence is if as part of that same defence, the defendant say's they've been groomed by others.