----- Original Message -----
From: ColRevs
To: Adrian Whyatt ; Mary Colley ; Russell Stronach ; [log in to unmask] ; janet taylor ; Dennis Debbaudt ; [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 10:12 AM
Subject: Comments about article from N.D's themselves....
Some comments below about article by N.D's themselves. I have left out the names of the authors of these comments to protect the privacy and confidentiality and identities..... Colin
http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/10/5/341
*so angry he's speechless*
Next email...
I have never heard of Tom Berney before, but from the "forensic" section of his paper, I am supposing that he would like to hire out as
a defense expert to explain how an autistic defendant is not responsible for his actions because the devil made him do it.
The development of the "asperger's defense" is a slippery slope.
Next email....Yes, I read this article last week and was equally disgusted. The author's forensic generalizations are broad and insupportable, and have the potential for increasing inappropriate scrutiny of autistic individuals, and undermining their credibility.
For instance, take the statement that "an innate lack of awareness of the outcome that allows individuals to embark on actions with unforeseen consequences; for example, fire-setting may result in a building's destruction, and assault in death." In fact, Everall and Lecouter's study of a firesetter with an AS diagnosis was a study of A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL. It is as ridiculous to assert that a single study can be reasonably generalized to support conclusions about an entire group than it is to conclude from the example of John Allen Muhammad that all black men are potential mass murderers.
The author's suggestion that certain characteristic features of Asperger syndrome PREDISPOSE to criminal offending is absurd and offensive. AS characteristics may be a relevant factor in specific cases, but that's as far as it goes. It is as inappropriate to target a group for excessive scrutiny by means of neurological profiling as it is to engage in racial profiling.
The laundry list of "Features of Asperger syndrome that affect an individual's reliability as a witness" could as easily be applied to anyone without an AS diagnosis, especially anyone under stress. And in all my readings on the subject of AS, I have never heard anyone indicate that people with AS have "difficulty in distinguishing (their) own actions from those of others, which may extend to a confusion of reality with observed fiction." Where did this "consultant in developmental psychiatry" and "honorary consultant to European Services for People with Autism" get this "information"???
I can't say that I agree with everything in another recent article covering similar territory:
Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Psychiatric Comorbidities, and the Law
http://ijo.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/48/1/40
However, the author's closing statement is entirely pertinent here:
"In conclusion, associations between neurodevelopmental syndromes and complex psychosocial behaviors are difficult to substantiate, and although there is clearly a need to clarify this relationship, current limited evidence may trigger an uninintended cycle that renders a neglected patient population vulnerable to further misunderstanding."
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