Crimes and Diagnosis
Autism has been mentioned as a possible diagnosis in the recent court cases of two defendents. One is a 19 year old Japanese teenager who fatally stabbed a teacher and wounded another teacher and a dietitian at an elementary school in suburban Osaka in 2005. He has been sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Osaka High Court. In southern Illinois, 52-year-old Martha Hampton, a former coroner investigator, was accused in 2005 of stealing from dead people—-taking cash and a coin collection from the homes of two dead men and also stealing from a third man’s home. Her attorney has now filed a motion to have her declared “mentally unable to stand trial”:
[John] Delaney described Hampton as a “very nice lady” who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism with symptoms such as social awkwardness and obsessiveness.
Hampton will undergo a mental evaluation, and a court hearing will determine whether she can stand trial, Delaney said. If she is found unable to stand trial, she still will be charged with the same crimes, but more time could be allowed for Hampton to undergo treatment and take medication to become mentally able.
The topic of an autism or Asperger Syndrome diagnosis in those accused with and/or convicted of crimes is a sensitive, and potentially touchy, subject. Had the Japanese teenager and Hampton received their diagnoses prior to committing their crimes? What efforts had been made, or could have been made, to help them?
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POSTED IN: Asperger's Syndrome, Crime, Legal Issues
7 opinions for Crimes and Diagnosis
KimJ
Oct 26, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I think it’s hard to pin criminal behavior on ASD as a direct factor. ASD itself doesn’t cause violence or confusion. Having an ASD may indirectly lead to other mental health issues though-depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, etc. I hear a lot of histories of people with an ASD that include misdiagnoses and mistreatments, medications that are contraindicated or just plain unhelpful.
But I think it’s wrong to plainly state that having Asperger’s makes you unstable or mentally unfit. There would have to be context and evidence showing why an ASD led to that person’s incompetence.
Brett
Oct 26, 2007 at 5:17 pm
I think the real question - the (really really) tough question - is, “Does the fact that a person is autistic, including AS, relieve them of responsibility for criminal behavior or action?”
Sarah
Oct 26, 2007 at 7:39 pm
That’s a pretty easy question IMO. No.
Justthisguy
Oct 26, 2007 at 11:26 pm
I’m with Sarah. I mind that Captain Nowak’s lawyer has listed her supposed aspitude as a defense for her long-distance astronaut stalking expedition. In that case, and in some others I’m aware of (not counting auties/aspies actually driven to extremes by bullies), the reaction of actual autistic folks has tended toward statements like, “Oh, git a rope, he knew it was wrong!”
N.B. I heavily exaggerated, just above, and I don’t trust the government, let alone an ad hoc mob, to administer the death penalty properly.
Justthisguy
Oct 27, 2007 at 12:57 am
Maybe a more temperate way to put it would be something like, “Oh, come on, you knew it was wrong when you did it, ‘fess up and take your medicine!”
Martha Hampton
Nov 7, 2007 at 9:40 pm
I have never commented publicly about these charges. Why address the foolish few who continue to believe what the press invents? Now, something new is amiss. Autism was recently sent back twenty years and I am its posterchild. Not! I maintain my innocence. After two years of waiting, my attorney approached me with a plea bargain. I refused it, stating that I’d rather go to prison than agree to something that was not true. He told me that the alternative was a trial. (This is all condensed.) I then agreed to go to trial. He replied that I had not paid him enough money for a trial. The Asperger’s came up in a seperate conversation about other things. The attorney felt I needed an “evaluation”. That was to happen before the judge on Monday, October 29th. Imagine MY shock when I read the papers on Thur. the 25th! You’ve heard it said, “How much justice can you afford?” … Asperger’s is not a disorder; it’s a difference. I don’t believe it’s any more of a “disorder” than being left-handed is, however, just as lefties must adapt to an opposite world, so must we who learn, think and behave outside of the set standards try to adjust. I am not afflicted with cloudy thinking. I just need a new attorney. Know anyone?
Justthisguy
Nov 8, 2007 at 3:00 am
@Martha Hampton: People get railroaded all the time. Look at Radley Balko’s site. That’s why I believe in having fully informed juries, and consequently prolly won’t be allowed on a jury by a prostituting attorney.
And, yes, “prosecuting” attorney = “prostituting” attorney in all too many cases.
I think there’s a distinction here, between folks who appeared to some people to do criminal things, though having no criminal intent themselves, and people who did crimes of passion or bad judgment and whose lawyers grasped at the weak reed of the “Aspie” defense.
I hope that made some sense
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