This document discusses the differences between criminal behavior in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) versus psychopaths. While both groups can engage in criminal acts, the key difference is intent. Individuals with ASD often lack understanding of others' mental states and may reactively commit crimes due to frustration or inability to interpret social cues. Psychopaths intentionally manipulate and deceive others to achieve their goals. The document argues against conflating ASD and psychopathy and cautions that lack of understanding of ASD has led to overly harsh treatment of some individuals in the criminal justice system.

3.  Asperger (1944) was the first person known to have
described the symptoms of Asperger's disease.
 He referred to boys, in whom he diagnosed “autistic
psychopathy”.
 The symptoms, as per Asperger included “a lack of empathy,
little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversation, intense
absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements.”
 Asperger was convinced that these boys were not deviant but
that they had special gifts which would emerge in adulthood.

4.  One of Asperger’s early patients in Vienna was
Gottfried K.
 Gottfried was nine years old
 He cried at the smallest change in routine
 He also failed an IQ test because when asked to
name similarities between objects (e.g. a chair or a
ladder), he would name differences instead since
he thought the differences to be more important.

5.  By the time Asperger submitted his paper diagnosing
these children, Vienna’s medical community was obsessed
with eugenics and sterilization.
 In Germany in 1934, 62,400 people with schizophrenia,
epilepsy, inherited blindness and other conditions viewed
as human imperfections were brought to the newly formed
Genetic Health Court and were given forced sterilizations.
 Given the foregoing, Asperger’s desire to broaden the
definition of “normal” can be seen as both a medical and a
political act.

6.  Fitzgerald (2011) suggested that autistic psychopathy
and Asperger’s syndrome are one and the same and
implied that individuals on the autism spectrum are
likely to exhibit psychopathic behavior and commit
antisocial criminal activities.
 We (Boka and Leibman 2015) expand upon and revise
Fitzgerald (2011) thesis to assert that individuals with
ASD do not perform acts with the same malice, intent,
and deception as psychopaths

7.  Fitzgerald (2011) argued that “Hans
Asperger’s autistic psychopathy be retained
for persons with autism who engage in
serious criminal activity” (p. 301).

8.  Fitzgerald does not describe “serious criminal activity”.
 Fitzgerald does not distinguish between psychopathic
and autistic individuals
 Fitzgerald over-relies on points of co-morbidity in these
conditions in order to conflate these populations
 Fitzgerald does not discuss how patterns of criminal
activities differ between these populations

9.  Fitzgerald relies heavily on Asperger’s notes
on seven patients where Asperger describes
them as autistic psychopaths
 However, Miller and Ozonoff (1997) re-
examined these cases and found that each
exhibited at least six traits of autism as per
the DSM-IV

10.  One of the distinctions between ASD individuals and
psychopaths is a question of intent
 Hippler, Viding, Klicpera and Happe (2010) examined the
Asperger patient files (n=46) and found only seven who
committed “intentional acts of malice, with malicious
pleasure and apparent pride in what they had done.”
 This sample is too small for the sweeping Fitzgerald (2011)
admonition to “keep dangerousness in mind when
assessing persons with autism and Asperger's syndrome.”

11.  It is well known that individuals on the ASD spectrum have difficulty with
forming and sustaining relationships
 However, this is not due to intentional callousness. As early as 1971, van
Krevelen described patients who were desperate to engage.
 By contrast, psychopaths can be very charming and bond without feeling a
bond.
 Jack Abbott, a famous NYC murderer said of friendships “I can imagineI feel
these emotions but I do not.”
 This distinction is further supported by Lockwood, Bird, Bridge, and Viding
(2013), who studied one hundred and ten adults and note that “psychopathy
appears characterized by problems with resonating with others’ emotions,”
while “ASD appears characterized by problems with cognitive perspective-
taking.”

12.  In describing autistic psychopaths, Fitzgerald
(2011, p. 301) cautions that these individuals
“show gross lack of empathy, [and] are
dangerously perverse.”
 As Frith (1991) cautioned, although the
Asperger patients were deemed malicious by
society, malice was not their intent: rather, these
children found emotional states difficult to
navigate and wanted to provoke an emotional
response that they could feel confident about
interpreting.

13.  Farmer and Aman (2011) note the difficulty in assigning intent to the behaviors of those on the
autism spectrum
 Farmer and Aman monitored children’s behavior and noted that ASD children were less
calculating, more impulsive and more defensive. For example, fourteen percent were willing to
insult someone to their face but only five percent did it behind someone’s back
 ASD children far outscored their peers with other intellectual developmental disabilities on
subscales centering on behaviors that were reactive and impulsive
 By contrast, the ASD group scored low on subscales that would indicate malice
 Recall that many on the ASD spectrum desire to engage with others whereas psychopathic
individuals tend to mimic engagement successfully without being truly engaged.
 Asperger’s differentiation between autistic psychopaths, who in his opinion retained the ability
(and presumably the desire) to forge genuine interpersonal relationships, and the classical
schizophrenic psychotic individuals who lacked this ability (Hippler & Klicpera, 2003) should be
retained.

14.  One persistent theme is that ASD individuals do not understand that
their acts are inappropriate.
 Kibbie (2012) refers to this as mindblindness: a deficiency in
understanding another’s mental state
 Kibbie described a stockbroker who, when clients started losing
money, would refuse to speak to them, lock himself in his office, call
them up to scream obscenities and hang up- all actions undertaken to
relieve his own stress without understanding how it impacted others.
 By contrast, psychopaths are very attuned to the emotional states and
needs of others. They have many ways of deceiving their targets
including speech: Modulating their voices in order to
control and manipulate interactions (Louth, Williamson, Alpert, Pouget
& Hare, 1998).

15.  Both ASD and psychopathic persons can lie. However,
psychopaths are infinitely better at lying.
 This goes back to the issue of perception: Psychopaths are able
to emphasize with their victims.
 Indeed, for psychopaths, mimicking engagement and empathy
are part of the thrill: Some enjoy the moment their victims are
made aware of their lack of genuine concern- this becomes part
of the thrill for this population (Murphy and Vess, 2003).
 By contrast ASD people are usually forthright to the point of
rudeness. They have difficulty lying and difficulty sensing when
they are lied to. These are facets of mindblindness.

16.  Men are five times likelier to be diagnosed
with autism and fifteen times more likely to
be caught up in the criminal justice system.
Women are incarcerated at a rate of
58:100,000, men at 896:100,000. (Covington
and Bloom 2003).

17.  Mens Rea is the term for the intent to
commit a crime. It is translated as having a
“guilty mind.”

18.  Murie et al. (2002) evaluated six case studies from
a forensic setting, identifying a number of other
dynamics that significantly influenced the
commission of unlawful acts by individuals with
Asperger’s syndrome, as well as their convictions
for the acts.
 Among these dynamics were deficits in identifying
with others’ feelings, inexperience in interpreting
interpersonal cues, frustration with sexual
performance, and prompt confessions
without forethought to consequences of same.

19.  Although people with ASD may engage in unlawful interactions with
others if their routines are interrupted, psychopaths easily change their
plans to assure that they have the opportunity to achieve their criminal
goals.
 Cleckly (1982) and Hare (1999) found that achievement of personal
aims was a major factor in psychopaths’ actions (both legal and
illegal).
 In contrast, individuals with ASD may be both reactive to a large extent
as well as proactive. Accordingly, the psychopath will commit crimes to
further his/her goals, whereas the person with ASD often reacts to a
situation that upsets them or that they do not understand.
 The results of their actions may be viewed as psychopathic: This is
why intent and motive are crucial to understand.

20.  We argue that the key point differentiating criminal acts by
psychopaths and individuals on the autism spectrum is that of intent.
 We also posit that some crimes committed by those on the autism
spectrum could be prevented through the provision of proper
treatment.
 Lack of familiarity with autism spectrum disorders has led judges and
others to treat ASD-afflicted individuals with a harshness typically
reserved for the most remorseless of recidivists.
 Articles like Fitzgerald’s (2011) encourage this trend without educating
individuals about the ingrained distinctions between individuals on the
autism spectrum and individuals with psychopathic features.

21.  Asperger H. (1944). Die ‘autistischen Psychopathen’ im Kindesalter. Archive fur Psychiatrie und
Nervenkrakheiten117, 76-136.
 Boka Z. And Leibman F. (2015). Autism spectrum disorders and psychopathy: Clinical and criminal justice
considerations. Journal of Cognitive Science 16(1), 17-40.
 Farmer C.A. & Aman M.G. (2011). Aggressive behavior in a sample of children with autism spectrum disorders.
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5(1),317-323.
 Fitzgerald M. (2011) Necrophilia and autistic psychopathy. Clinical Neuropsychiatry 8(5), 301-302.
 Kibbie K.S. (2012). Maleficent or mindblind: Questioning the role of Asperger’s in quant hedge fund malfeasance
and modeling disasters. American Criminal Law Review, 49(2), 367-402.
 van Krevelen A. (1971). Early infantile autism and autistic psychopathy. Journal of Autism and Developmental
Disorders 1(1), 82-86,
 Lockwood, P. L., Bird, G., Bridge, M., & Viding, E. (2013). Dissecting empathy: High levels of psychopathic and
autistic traits are characterized by difficulties in different social information processing domains.
Frontiers in human neuroscience, 7.
 Miller J.N. & Ozonoff S. (1997). Did Asperger’s cases have Asperger disorder? Aresearch note. Journal of Child
Psychology and Psychiatry, 38(2), 247-251.