Current status of research on autism spectrum disorders and offending

An emerging literature on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and offending has highlighted that these disorders are at times associated with criminal behaviour. Ghaziuddin et al. (1991) reviewed the published literature on this topic from 1944 to 1990 and concluded that there was no clear link between Asperger syndrome (AS) and violent crime. They suggested that people with AS hardly were more likely to commit violent crime than the rest of the population. The present review provides an update on the issues in the earlier review mentioned and presents new issues that have emerged in the past two decades. Currently, there is still no body of evidence to suppose that people with ASD are more prone to commit offences than anyone else. However, a small number of serious crimes can be linked to the core features of ASD. Co-morbid psychiatric disorders are important risk factors for offending in people with ASD. Studies of referred samples have suggested considerable differences in offending among subgroups of people with ASD. Offending has rarely been reported in childhood autism, but is more common in atypical autism (AA) and AS. Literature suggests that people with ASD are potentially overrepresented within the criminal justice system, and that failure to detect ASD among offenders is not uncommon. Insofar as people with AA and AS have offended, it has typically been connected with arson and sexual abuse. But due to lack of valid community based studies of offending relating to people with ASD, these findings must be interpreted with caution.