Homicidal Ideation and Individuals on the Autism Spectrum

Abstract

Interest in the relationship between autism and violence has increased in recent years; however, no link has clearly been established between them. Researchers remain curious if autistic people with certain traits (e.g., a history of trauma) are at greater risk of violence than those individuals with autism alone. In this article, we detail two individuals with homicidal ideation (HI) admitted to inpatient psychiatric units who were found to have a diagnosis of autism without language impairment. These cases illustrate the need for mental health providers to consider autism in their differential diagnosis when evaluating an individual with HI. Broadly, we consider how an autistic individual could be susceptible to developing HI and explore treatments specific to autistic individuals that may be helpful in such cases.

Homicidal ideation and psychiatric comorbidities in the inpatient adolescents aged 12–17

“…A limitation of our study lies in the fact that we only include the inpatient population. Besides depression and anxiety, homicidal ideation is also prevalent in adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder ( 50 ). While most patients with autism spectrum disorders are more likely to be managed outpatient, they might be excluded from our study.…”

Autism Spectrum Condition, Good and Bad Motives of Offending, and Sentencing

“…Determining the actual prevalence of ASC in the criminal justice system is, however, commonly seen to presuppose further research (see e.g. [5,15,[17][18][19]). 6 As suggested, the precise nature of ASC remains somewhat controversial and, accordingly, the above-described understanding of the condition is not universally accepted.…”

“…Accordingly, focusing on "the primary orientation of morality" suggests that the good motives of offenders with ASC should be deemed as morally weighty as those of otherwise similar neurotypical offenders and the bad motives of offenders with ASC as less morally weighty than those of otherwise similar neurotypical offenders. 19 Possible Objections Yet things could evidently be deemed more complicated than the above considerations suggest. Below I turn to some possible objections.…”

“…As the reassessment does not appear directly relevant to examining, as I have done above, whether the good and bad motives of offenders with ASC ought to be given less moral weight than those of neurotypical offenders are being given, I now put the task aside. 19 Wolf [51] maintains that being unable to act morally compromises moral blameworthiness whereas being unable to act immorally is compatible with moral praiseworthiness. Yet Wolf's argument refers to persons who are kind enough to be unable to hurt a fly or so honest that they cannot tell a lie.…”