Autism Defense Again

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Attorney: Simpsonville teen accused of killing mom is autistic

If you asked me a few months ago I would have argued that the Autism Defense was an non issue but lately I have read about a number of such cases.

I seriously cannot imagine killing my mother and also going to jail for a real long time or getting the death penalty.

“I killed her at 9 o’clock,” he told police without emotion. “I needed to be free.”

He said he planned to become a serial killer.

His Skype account had a picture of a llama with the phrase, "Hello, I am a serial killer now."

On the morning of Aug. 31, he told two classmates in his third period social studies class that he “was going to kill people.”

He also told several students: “Today, I am going to be a serial killer.”

Sounds like cries for help, maybe ??

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/n ... /78998194/

"now 14" suggests that he was 13 when he committed the crime.

Like we need another killer associated with us.

It was premeditated murder. I don't know about the circumstances of the crime, but autism is not the problem.

This is not as simple a situation as it may seem at first blush.

People with any kind of serious mental illness or mental difference are going to end up in trouble with the law at a higher rate than NTs. We have our heads in the sand about the issue, because we have never committed the funds to adequately treat the mentally ill, and in the US at least, their "rights" (e.g. to not take meds, not be institutionalized) are more important than their responsibilities (to not become dangers to others).

The PC response to the gun violence epidemic is "do better background checks to exclude felons and the mentally ill." Nobody is saying how we will handle the right to privacy for mental health providers and mental hospitals to release an individual's patient status. NOBODY is discussing this. Do we want every single person who gets a course of therapy for depression, to be fingered? Do you understand that such a practice will keep people out of treatment?

Only because they/we are more conspicuous. The mentally ill do not have a corner on evil.


I agree. Untreated mental illness leads often to anti-social behaviour and the interest of the police. It is sad to see people who would probably respond well to the proper intervention struggling.

And this is why they end up in trouble with the law at a higher rate than NTs.

This kid planning on becoming a serial killer should not be allowed in public at all. He needs to be put away. He is a danger to others. People should not lose their lives to this person just because he has autism or maybe a mental illness and has a possibly a special interest in being a serial killer. I wonder if he also has ASPD because no one in their right mind would want to take someone's life. Even autistic people can't imagine doing it either.

I hope a family sues the state if this kid kills again because the state failed to put him away. I damn sure would if he killed my own children and I found out the killer had a history of violence and had made plans to be a serial killer and has talked about it and nothing was done about it because they still let him run wild.

This needs to be taken seriously.

^ I agree completely. I don't care if they suffer some disorder or not; if someone is a danger to others, they cannot be allowed to roam free. I'm so fed up with cases where killers were known threats, yet were allowed to stay free or were released from mental hospitals, and then they ended up killing someone who had the misfortune to come across them. People who are a threat to others need to be locked up.

Clinicians spend a lot of effort trying to determine who is a threat to others. It's not an exact science. The smarter patients will lie about their intentions.

Unfortunately or fortunately clinicians are not mind readers; they can only go by what you say and words are not necessarily indicators of actual thinking.

I think social services need to act more in cooperation with law enforcement. Teams of officers trained in mental health should be available to handle situations where the illness is what is causing the person's behaviour. Screaming in the street due to mental pain should not be a crime, but that is how it is treated, at least where I live. We went from locking people up to releasing them to their own devices; a huge pendulum swing. There is a gap in public services that needs to be filled to deal with this. We have social workers now, but they are isolated in their own department and are not given proper resources. I agree that we need to think about how we engage behaviour caused by mental illness.

Exeter Computer gamer caught with "disturbing" abuse images

Uggh.

What do you think he should have been sentenced to? I am unfamiliar with the way these cases are handled in the UK. His autism was cited as a factor in his sentencing.

I'm inclined to think people into these sick things, need to get the book thrown at them. Even if he never abused anyone directly, the market for kiddie porn causes more abuse to happen. And I don't want someone like this roaming MY streets.

I think that kid needs to be locked up, yesterday.