L2 Autism in the Criminal Justice System

Question 1

What is an overview of autism?

Answer 1

1% of the population
Asperger’s Syndrome commonly refers to people on the spectrum without language delay
Impairments in social interaction
Restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour
Sensory abnormalities

Question 2

What is the cognitive style of autistic people?

Answer 2

Difficulty attending to more than one thing
Difficulty remembering the past and imagining the future
Black and white thinking
Difficulty taking another’s person’s perspective

Question 3

What is the difference between the medical model and the social model of disability?

Answer 3

Medical - issue is within the self
Social - issue with people and the environment
People having prejudice and stereotypes can create barriers

Question 4

What is the double empathy problem?

Answer 4

Autistic to autistic interaction is the most efficient instead of autistic to neurotypical interactions

Question 5

How did Sasson 2017 research how autistic people are perceived?

Answer 5

12 autistic and 16 non autistic recorded whilst interaction
Matched groups
Non-autistic people rated autistic people less socially favourable
Not to due to speech content but audio and visual cues

Question 6

Give examples of research into how autistic people are perceived?

Answer 6

Non-autistic find it harder to read autistic (Sheppard 2019)
Non-autistic people might rate autistic people negatively due to hard to read (Alkhaldi 2019)
Disclosing autism diagnosis an decreased knowledge increases favourability (Sasson and Morrison 2019)

Question 7

What is Intellectual Disability?

Answer 7

Impairment in cognitive, language and social ability
Increased offending behaviour in those with ID but not always

Question 8

How are those with ID more vulnerable?

Answer 8

Not understand their rights
More suggestible - risk of false confession
Make poor decisions without good advice
Lack of legal protection
Difficulty understanding complex language
Can be avoided by interventions

Question 9

What are the differences between autism and ID?

Answer 9

Autism - narrow interests, insistence on same routine, naive, hypersensitivity
Less likely to offend due to anxiousness around breaking rules

Question 10

What was the case of Gary McKinnon?

Answer 10

Falsely admitted to accessing US government computers and causing damage
Pursuing an obsessive interest
Diagnosed with AS
Dropped case after number of appeals

Question 11

What is the critical appraisal of case studies?

Answer 11

Useful for real life cases
Range of vulnerabilities and challenges
Useful for informing future research
Cant tell us anything about prevalence
Biased

Question 12

What is King and Murphy 2014 systematic review of prevalence of autism in CJS?

Answer 12

Only 2 studies reported total random samples, neither included both screening and diagnostic assessment for autism
5/7 studies examined rates of autism in those referred for psychiatric assessment

Question 13

What is the prevalence of offending in autism, researched by King and Murphy 2014)?

Answer 13

Unbiased sample of autistic people
Unbiased comparison sample to compare prevalence rates
Matched groups
2/6 reported data systematically gathered
Wide ranging prevalence 3%-26%
Lower prevalence in autism compared to comparison

Question 14

What did Railey 2020 find about experience in the CJS?

Answer 14

Lack of knowledge regarding disability
Lack of active listening
Stressful experience during trials
Defence lawyers not representing well
Prison experience was mixed

Question 15

What did judges believe about disabilities and autism?

Answer 15

Offenders with ASD were predisposed to offend
View the world differently
Lack impulse control
Awareness that media coverage of offending is negative

Question 16

What did Crane 2016 find about professional knowledge?

Answer 16

40% of LEOs did not recognise the term developmental disability
50% recognised key features of ASD

Question 17

What types of memory are used for eye witness testimony?

Answer 17

Semantic memory - facts
Episodic memory - memory for specific events

Question 18

What is the task report hypothesis (Bowler 1997, 2004)?

Answer 18

Autistic people can recall as much if prompted properly (episodic)
Lower performance on free recall
Perform well with cued recall
Unlikely that the CI would work with autistic people

Question 19

What was Maras and Bowler 2010 research into the CI with autistic people?

Answer 19

CI = Autistic adults significantly more incorrect than non autistic adults
Autistic adults significantly less accurate
Structured interview = More incorrect on CI than SI
SI more effective

Question 20

Is prompting needed for autistic adults?

Answer 20

Prompting is needed but in a way that does not increase false information or generate stress