Violence is Rare in Autism: When It Does Occur, Is It Sometimes Extreme?

Summary & key facts

This review looked at 73 mass shooting events (75 shooters) to see if shooters showed signs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It found tentative evidence of ASD in 6 of 75 shooters (about 8%), and some indication in 16 more cases. The authors say this 8% figure is a conservative, tentative estimate and that ASD might be a factor in a few extreme cases but is not shown to cause violent acts. Other research notes people with ASD are more often victims than offenders, and other risks (for example, adverse childhood experiences) may matter in the small subgroup who commit violence.

Key facts:

• The review examined 73 mass shooting events, which included 75 individual shooters.
• The authors found tentative evidence of ASD in 6 of 75 shooters, which is about 8% of the cases studied.
• An additional 16 cases had some indication of possible ASD features, beyond the 6 with clearer evidence.
• The 8% figure is described by the authors as a conservative and tentative estimate, not a definitive rate.
• The 8% estimate is about eight times higher than the worldwide prevalence of ASD, according to the authors' comparison.
• The paper notes there is no clear evidence that people with ASD are more violent than people without ASD; some research suggests people with ASD are more likely to be victims of violence.
• The authors say ASD may influence but does not cause extreme violent acts, and other factors (for example, adverse childhood experiences) may be important in the small subgroup who offend.
• Prior work cited in the review mentions that school shootings and mass killings often show warning indicators before the event.

Abstract

A small body of literature has suggested that, rather than being more likely to engage in offending or violent behavior, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may actually have an increased risk of being the victim rather than the perpetrator of violence (Sobsey, Wells, Lucardie, & Mansell, 1995 ). There is no evidence that people with ASD are more violent than those without ASD (Im, 2016). There is nevertheless a small subgroup of individuals with ASD who exhibit violent offending behaviours and our previous work has suggested that other factors, such as adverse childhood experiences, might be important in this subgroup (Allely, Minnis, Thompson, Wilson, & Gillberg, 2014 ). Fitzgerald ( 2015 ) highlights that school shootings and mass killings are not uncommonly carried out by individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, with frequent evidence of warning indicators. The aim of the present review is to investigate this in more detail using the 73 mass shooting events identified by Mother Jones (motherjones.com) in their database for potential ASD features. There are 73 mass shooting events but there are two events where there is a pair of shooters which meant that 75 mass shooter cases were investigated. This exercise tentatively suggests evidence of ASD in six of 75 included cases (8%) which is about eight times higher when compared to the prevalence of ASD found in the general population worldwide (motherjones.com). The 8% figure for individuals with ASD involved mass killings is a conservative estimate. In addition to the six cases which provide the 8% figure, there were 16 other cases with some indication of ASD. Crucially, ASD may influence, but does not cause, an individual to commit extreme violent acts such as a mass shooting episode.

Topics

Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Categories

Cognitive Neuroscience Life Sciences Neuroscience

Tags

Autism Autism spectrum disorder Clinical psychology Demography Developmental psychology Human factors and ergonomics Injury prevention Medical emergency Medicine Poison control Population Psychiatry Psychology Sociology Suicide prevention