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Posted by Susan Fitzmaurice I think the risk for Asperger's will be even higher if this becomes accepted as being a person with Asperger's is far more acceptable than being labeled as mentally retarded. Certainly the characteristics of Asperger's can present a credible defense for not understanding one's actions. But I don't think that Asperger's should be considered an automatic defense against not understanding and thus not being responsible for crimes committed.
on February 11, 2007, 11:27 am, in reply to "Should Asperger syndrome be used as part of murder defense?"
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Mental retardation has been made an automatic defense in many states and countries. The drawback to that is the focus of the trial becomes whether or not the person has mental retardation, not whether they did it, and understood what the were doing, and what reasoning they had for doing it.
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