According to research, autistic individuals are at increased risk of receiving harsher treatment and penalties when interacting with the criminal justice system. Specifically, one study suggests that autistic individuals may be unfairly disadvantaged when perceived by non-autistic individuals due to differences in remorse. However, educating the public about autism may mitigate adverse outcomes in the legal field.

Presentations of remorse

The lower reasoning ability of autistic individuals suggests that autistic individuals may not consider the potential harmfulness of Actions when engaging in illegal activity. However research suggests that informing autistic people about intent/potential harm reduces the difficulties in reasoning.

Understanding of Wrongfulness

After investigating attitudes that criminal justice professions have toward offenders with Intellectual disabilities, researchers found that CJS staff groups held pervasive negative perceptions of offenders with intellectual disabilities. 

Attitudes Towards Offenders with Intellectual Disabilities 

The social and communication impairments associated with ASD make individuals vulnerable, especially when they are involved with the criminal justice system. As such, specific measures should be taken to improve communication and avoid the potential misinterpretation of  communication. Studies have explored the level of autism knowledge and awareness among undergraduate criminal justice students and the results suggested that they had moderate knowledge of ASD (but this knowledge did not appear to increase with time in respective programs). 

Criminal Justice Students' Knowledge about Autism

In light of the gap in empirical findings, researchers have recently examined how intellectual and Developmental Disabilities are represented in the criminal justice system. Adults with IDD were over‐represented in federal corrections and forensic inpatient care. Furthermore, medical complexity and rates of co‐occurring mental health conditions were higher for people with IDD than those without IDD.


Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Ontario's Criminal Justice System

Given the symptomatology of ASD, there are several contributing factors that may affect an individual's understanding of the outside world. As such, this diversity yields many challenges in the legal field.

Scripps College

Within the legal field, professionals evaluate an individual's culpability in order to assess the defendant's motives and eventually offer possibly beneficial rehabilitation interventions. With this, psychology plays a crucial role in understanding criminal behavior and, in turn, the criminal justice system.

Intersections between Criminal Justice and Clinical Psychology 

Autism Spectrum Disorder's Relationship to Crime, Punishment, and Reasoning

References

Within the legal field, the insanity defense is intended to negate the culpability of defendants who cannot be held responsible for behavior due to mental illness

Insanity Defense

There has been linkage between criminal activity and the onset of a personality disorder

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