Berryessa Colleen M
Program Manager, based at Center for Biomedical Ethics, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
J Intellect Disabil Offending Behav. 2014;5(2):97-106. doi: 10.1108/JIDOB-02-2014-0002.
The purpose of this paper is to explore how judges perceive High Functioning Autistic Spectrum Disorders (hfASDs) and the disorders' effects on an offender's ability to formulate criminal intent and control behaviour.
DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Semi-structured interviews on topics related to offenders with hfASDs were conducted with 21 California Superior Court Judges. A coding scheme was developed and an iterative qualitative coding process was used for analysis.
Analysis yielded three major themes on how an hfASD diagnosis affects an offender's ability to regulate actions and criminal behaviour. Interviewed judges reported beliefs that hfASD offenders view the world in a different way and that much of their behaviour is not under their direct control. Judges reported these perceptions likely affect how they criminally process and make legal decisions regarding offenders with hfASDs.
RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: The sample size was small and therefore no statistical significance can be drawn from results; findings cannot be applied to perceptions or experiences of the entire California Superior Court Judge population.
ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Past academic research reports that individuals with hfASDs that offend often do so because of specific symptoms associated with the disorder. This presents a complex dilemma for the criminal justice system regarding how best to understand the disorder and process these offenders. This study and its findings aim to shed light on issues judges encounter in determining these offenders' responsibility and sentencing, in what ways this information might be integrated into judicial decision making, and areas where future research is needed.
本文旨在探讨法官如何看待高功能自闭症谱系障碍（hfASDs）以及该障碍对罪犯形成犯罪意图和控制行为能力的影响。
设计/方法/途径：对21名加利福尼亚高等法院法官进行了关于与患有hfASDs的罪犯相关主题的半结构化访谈。制定了编码方案，并采用迭代定性编码过程进行分析。
分析得出了关于hfASD诊断如何影响罪犯调节行动和犯罪行为能力的三个主要主题。接受采访的法官表示，他们认为患有hfASD的罪犯以不同的方式看待世界，并且他们的许多行为不受其直接控制。法官们表示，这些看法可能会影响他们对患有hfASDs的罪犯进行刑事处理和做出法律决定的方式。
研究局限性/影响：样本量较小，因此无法从结果中得出统计学意义；研究结果不能应用于整个加利福尼亚高等法院法官群体的看法或经历。
原创性/价值：过去的学术研究报告称，患有hfASDs的罪犯犯罪往往是由于与该障碍相关的特定症状。这给刑事司法系统带来了一个复杂的困境，即如何最好地理解这种障碍并处理这些罪犯。本研究及其结果旨在阐明法官在确定这些罪犯的责任和量刑时遇到的问题、这些信息可能以何种方式纳入司法决策以及未来需要研究的领域。
