Table 1 Studies of prevalence of delinquency in patients with autism spectrum disorders
From: Autism in adult and juvenile delinquents: a literature review
Authors | N | Setting | Diagnosis and classification system | Type of instrument/source of data on offending | Age in years | Control group | Conclusion | Type of delinquency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Allen et al. [10] | 33 of 126; 26% | Mostly mental health services but also probation services and prisons | Asperger’s syndrome classification system unknown | Questionnaire covering offending behavior + semi-structured interview | 18–61; M = 34.8 | None | No association between Asperger’s syndrome and offending | Violent behavior and threatening conduct most common followed by destructive behavior, drug offenses and theft |
Woodbury-Smith et al. [41] | 2 of 25; 8% | Primary care services, mental health services, learning disability services and local media | High-functioning autism/Asperger’s syndrome ICD-10 | Self-Reported Offending Questionnaire and Home Office(UK) Offenders Index | M = 29.8 | 20 non-ASD comparison group | Rating of offending lower in the ASD groups than in the non-ASD comparison group | More criminal damage in ASD group and fewer drug offenses in ASD group |
Hippler et al. [40] | 33 in 177; 19% | Vienna University Children’s clinic and institute for mental history | Autistic psychopathy and Asperger’s syndrome ICD-10 | Criminal records search of the Austrian Penal Register | 23–64; M = 42 | None | Asperger’s patients no more likely to have been convicted of a crime than the general male population | Most common conviction in Asperger patients property offenses and second falsification or suppression of documents |
Mouridsen et al. [9] | 29 in 313; 9% | University Clinics of Child Psychiatry of Copenhagen and Aarhus | 13 childhood autism, 86 atypical autism and 114 Asperger’s syndrome ICD-9, ICD-10 | Danish Criminal Register | M = 24.5 | 933 matched controls | Offenders with atypical autism and Asperger’s convicted of all kinds of offenses | Significantly more arson in Asperger patients and fewer violations for traffic law |
Cheely et al. [42] | 32 of 609; 5% | Department of juvenile justice, South Carolina law enforcement division and South Carolina autism and developmental disabilities monitoring program | Autism spectrum disorder DSM-IV-TR | Department of Juvenile Justice and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division databases | 12–18 | 99 matched controls | Youths with ASD had lower rates of charges overall | Higher rate of charges of offenses against the person in youths with ASD; lower rate of charges of property offenses and fewer charges with probation violations |