It has happened again. Another mass shooting has occurred. This time, the scenes of the crime include an apartment, a delicatessen and a university. The shooter killed five people, injured over a dozen others and then apparently killed himself. He has altered the lives of many people. Once more, the finger-pointing has begun. We are talking about guns and about mental health. You know that those two loaded issues are normally taboo until something like this happens. One more thing is true. The mass shooter apparently was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and was called "high-functioning." Will this ever end?
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) & the Question of Criminal Tendencies
The current debate includes guns and mental health. Of course, these are hot button issues and remain controversial. If you followed the news of the current mass murders, you may have heard the heart-wrenching media address of one of the grieving fathers. If you did, you will have heard his impassioned plea to all parents not to assume that something tragic could not strike our children. You also heard his lashing out at our "craven politicians who refuse to address gun rights and the NRA." Actually, according to police, the gun owner had passed background checks when he registered for his three guns. He legally acquired all three of them in his name. This was the case though his family was aware that he was "seriously mentally disturbed" and so were police. It was not until this past Sunday, however, that I discovered, in an article, that this young man apparently was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. A sponsored post by an Asperger's expert confirms that he was diagnosed but other advocates say that an ASD was suspected, not diagnosed. Just earlier this week, I had come upon an article that details current studies of mass killers. The writer of that article tells us that over 30 percent of mass killers are diagnosed with some variant of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other developmental disabilities. Months ago, the mother of Temple Grandin, who is considered the "highest-functioning" autistic person in the world, came out with a very controversial article. In the article, Temple's mom opened her article with the story of an autistic man who turned in his computer for repairs. The repairer, seeing child pornography on this man's hard drive, reported the man to the police. The rest of the article analyzes how autistic men would have the motive to view child porn, and it came in for much flack from the autism community. Years ago, when another mass shooter's information came out, it was confirmed that he was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. But, in every such case where a mass shooter had such a diagnosis, he also had serious mental health issues, diagnosed or suspected. Even the media were careful to point that out, no doubt after pressure from the autism community. After all, there is enough of a stigma in the autism diagnosis; why add to it?
Does Autism Breed Criminal Tendencies?
Let me clarify exactly what Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are. I know that most, including those who are new to the autism community, need education. Autism is not a mental health condition, though psychiatrists can diagnose it. It is a neuro-developmental condition. ASDs, as such a condition, include Asperger's Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), and Classic Autism (with varying levels of function). Autism is a complex disorder. Even the articles that speculate that it increases criminal tendencies concede that when autistic people get involved in serious crimes, it is rarely premeditated on their part. That was noted in the the article by Temple's mom and by other writers. Still, it is far less often noted that autistic people, as well as people with other developmental disabilities, are much more likely to become victims of serious crimes than to perpetrate them against others. Too often, I hear of how many in the prison system have "low IQ's" and various developmental disabilities. But, given that avoiding prosecution and prison are so often matters of having the shrewdness to avoid getting caught or, when caught, being able to afford the best attorneys, let me say this. Those incarcerated people with developmental disabilities are typically not able to "cover their tracks" in their crimes and statistically can't afford "dream teams" to get them out of trouble. So it makes sense that they seem to be over-represented in the prison population, just as, for the same reasons, non-Whites are over-represented there. The overwhelming majority of people with autism or other developmental disabilities will never commit crimes and are law-abiding citizens. The stigma of these disabilities is bad enough without adding to it the notion that autism and other developmental disabilities somehow aggravates criminality. Autism Spectrum Disorders are not enough to explain the profile of this mass shooter and his violent tendencies or of any other that may carry an ASD diagnosis. In every case, other issues are going on with them. Autism and other developmental disabilities do not breed criminality, any more than skin color does. Am I missing anything here?
What Does Breed Serious Crimes?
It seems to me that we seem to be as bent, maybe more, on analyzing what breeds crime than drawing up solutions to it. Professions such as Criminologist and Criminal Profiler have been created to analyze the commission of crimes and those who commit them. Yes, it is fascinating to debate such issues and this is why TV Channels such as Investigative Discovery have been set up, and countless True Crime books written. But with all our study of crimes and criminals, crime seems to get worse. I think all our analyzing is because we all keep trying to make sense of what makes no sense. The answer as to the root cause of all crime is contained in the Scripture. We are told that all actions, including murders, proceed out of the human heart. Yes, the answer is as simple and as unsettling as that. It is simple because it answers our questions. It is unsettling because it means that all of us are, if presented with the "right set of stressors," capable of serious crime. As one person put it, "We are all one bad choice away from a life behind bars." Many of the mass shooters were said to be loners. They felt like outsiders, rejected, isolated and alienated. How many of us have felt this way, and may feel this way now? I guess what separates the rest of us from these mass killers are the grace of God and a moral compass. Unlike the rest of us, they chose to act on what is in the heart of all of us and which is why Christ had to come and die. Let us call it what it is. Sin. That dirty word. I think I should also note something here. Most serious crimes are committed by typical, non-autistic people, but does anyone say, "I guess that is what most typical people do!" No. But that happens every when crimes are committed by minorities. Right?
Scriptures tell us that "Evil people will get worse and worse" the closer and closer we get to Christ's return. This means that, unfortunately, crime will always be with us. Doesn't this tell us that focusing on changing hearts rather than laws may get us closer to the solution here?
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