No Evidence That Autistic Adults Are More Vulnerable to Criminals

FRIDAY, Nov. 1, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Are people with autism less able to “read” the nefarious intentions of criminals, leaving them more vulnerable to fraud or being coerced into criminal activity?

Australian researchers behind a new report say this is a common idea among trial lawyers, but it’s not based on any real evidence.

“This perspective may not hold up under scrutiny, and we found that, in general, autistic adults are no more vulnerable to engaging in criminal activity than non-autistic adults,” the study co-author said. Neil BrewerProfessor of psychology at Flinders University in Adelaide.

“In addition, mind-reading difficulties, which are often thought to be inherently linked to autism, are by no means ubiquitous in autistic adults,” he added in a university news release.

Brewer and study co-author, graduate student Zoe MichaelThey recently published their findings in the journal Law and Human Behavior.

As Brewer notes, “it is not uncommon for defense attorneys, often supported by the testimony of ‘expert’ witnesses, to argue that autistic adults have difficulty interpreting the intentions of others or reading their minds, making them vulnerable to being drawn into criminal activity.”

“Such arguments reflect the widespread view that difficulty reading the intentions, emotions, and motivations of others are core features of autism,” he added in a university news release.

Testing this theory, Brewer and Michael had 197 participants – 102 of whom were adults. autism and 95 typical adults – over time, they engage in role-playing scenarios in which it is subtly implied that the person they are interacting with may be exhibiting signs of criminal intent.

At various points in the role-play, participants were asked how they might respond to the developing situation. Australian researchers explained that it measures each person’s ability to recognize and respond to suspicious actions in others.

“We found that overall, both autistic and non-autistic adults respond in similar ways to suspicious behavior in a variety of scenarios,” Brewer said. “Importantly, autistic adults did not show lower rates of suspicion or adaptive responses compared to their non-autistic counterparts as the scenarios unfolded. “It didn’t take long for them to realize the potentially problematic nature of the interaction.”

Brewer and Michael noted that anyone can demonstrate a vulnerability to “reading others’ minds” and detecting malevolent intent.

“Our findings suggest that the ability to understand others’ perspectives and intentions, not the presence of an autism diagnosis, is a critical factor influencing their vulnerability to crime,” Brewer said.

In other words, anyone’s “spider senses” can falter in the face of a crafty individual, and an autism diagnosis usually has nothing to do with it.

Brewer and Michael found a few outliers; People diagnosed with autism whose mind-reading abilities are “inferior to that of any non-autistic sample,” according to the news release.

They may actually be more vulnerable to criminals, but an autism diagnosis alone should not be used as evidence that a person is more easily misled.

“Therefore, it is important for defense attorneys and clinicians to formally assess and demonstrate that a criminal suspect or defendant has possible mind-reading difficulties, rather than defense attorneys and clinicians assuming and defending that a diagnosis of autism automatically indicates a particular vulnerability to delinquency. “We made them vulnerable,” Brewer said.

More information

You can find out more about autism at: Autism Speaks.

SOURCE: Flinders University, news release, 29 October 2024