Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are known to be associated with an increased risk of aggression and challenging behavior. In this study, we have mapped the externalizing history of a nationally representative cohort of young violent offenders with ASD, compared with offenders without ASD. Two hundred and sixty-nine violent offenders were assessed for prevalence of ASD, and participated in a thorough assessment of previous externalizing problems and criminal history. Twenty-six offenders met consensus clinical DSM-IV criteria for ASD and they were compared to offenders without ASD from the same cohort. Overall, we found a very high prevalence of externalizing and antisocial behaviors in the history of these offenders and there were few differences between the groups. Placements in foster homes were overrepresented in the ASD group and the ASD-offenders had significantly more often been diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder (i.e. ASD or ADHD) by a clinician before the study. At index conviction, ASD offenders were overrepresented in sex crimes with a child victim. Though offenders without ASD had more previous convictions, in particular drug crimes, we found no difference in terms of total number of prosecuted crimes. Substance use disorders were more common among offenders without ASD. The ASD offenders scored higher compared to the non-ASD offenders on the Affective facet of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) but there were no differences in terms of total PCL-R scores. Our results provide important knowledge of the developmental history of offenders with ASD. Though this is a small and atypical phenotype it poses significant challenges to the criminal justice system and we need to understand more of it to be able to prevent these individuals from committing crimes but also to provide a fair judicial treatment, to assess exculpatory factors and improve our forensic treatment models.
Highlights
Violent and criminal behavior in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has often been considered a sensitive topic to discuss, in individuals with so-called highfunctioning Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) [1]
The ASDoffenders had significantly more often been diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder (i.e. ASD or ADHD) by a clinician before participating in the Development of Aggressive Antisocial Behavior Study (DAABS) (ADHD: OR = 4.417, CI = 1.836–10.624, p < .001; ASD: OR = 18.968, CI = 4.236–84.947, p < .001)
Among the early onset externalizing disorders identified at the DAABS assessment (Table 2), we found no differences between the groups
Summary
Violent and criminal behavior in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has often been considered a sensitive topic to discuss, in individuals with so-called highfunctioning ASD (i.e., without a general intellectual disability) [1]. Certain psychiatric disorders can increase the risk of violent behavior [16,17,18], with a strong relationship between substance abuse and repeated violent criminality (e.g. 19) Likewise, this relationship seems to correspond for individuals with ASD [3, 20]. In cases where ASD is connected to criminal behavior there are different views as to which kinds of antisocial acts these individuals commit To address this issue, the present study compares violent offenders with and without ASD on a range of measures of externalizing and criminal behavior over their lifecourse in an effort to map the developmental history of aggressive and antisocial behaviors in ASD
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