Autism awareness and criminal justice
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550518809849 |
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Research & reports |
Research & reports
Research & reports
Autism awareness and criminal justice
This paper reports on a workshop presented by Iain Dickie and Austin Dorrity,
University of Cumbria, entitled: ‘What can autism awareness tell us about com-
munication barriers between individuals on the autism spectrum and criminal justice
professionals?’ The workshop took place at the National Autistic Society 17th
International Conference on offenders with an intellectual and/or developmental
disability in April 2018.
There were 30 attendees at the workshop representing: clinical psychology;
probation service; autism research; lecturers in law and offender learning; consul-
tant psychiatrists; PhD students in criminal psychology; criminal justice diversion
and liaison; occupational therapy; social work; language therapy; community
nursing; prison service; forensics.
The workshop explored how perceptual and processing differences between
individuals on the autism spectrum and criminal justice professionals could create
unintended barriers to effective communication. Participants reflected on their own
awareness regarding another person’s actions or presentation that could lead to
false assumptions about the reasons behind such behaviour – thus that person or
their actions might be interpreted as malicious or criminal.
The backdrop to the workshop was emergent data from an empirical research
project that critically examines how awareness and understanding of autism among
criminal justicepersonnel might impactupon services delivered topeople with autism.
Incidence of autism: Autism can be identified across all social groups, all gender
identifiers and all socio-cultural and socioeconomic categories within autism pre-
valence statistics. The National Autistic Society (NAS, 2017) report that the inci-
dence of autism within the general population in the UK equates to 1/100
individuals or 700,000 individuals
Theoretical concepts: Theories explored derived from a review of the relevant
literature with a particular focus on attribution theory, double empathy hypothesis
and context blindness.
The power of attribution.Our first impressions are powerful – what attributions do
professionalshave about people on the autismspectrum? Examples includefilms such
as Rain Man or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night. Our attributions dictate
the way we treat people. Variations in the presentation of social and communication
traits associatedwith autism, owing to differencesin the presentation of autism in men
Probation Journal
2018, Vol. 65(4) 447–452
ªThe Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550518809849
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The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
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