Autism Awareness and Crime: Investigating the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Autism Awareness and Crime explores Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the ‘school to prison pipeline’. This book takes the reader through a journey from understanding autism, how it manifests and how it is diagnosed. The author looks at how circumstances in schools including isolation, misunderstanding meltdowns, lack of autism awareness and training have criminalised autism, leading to suspensions, exclusions, and the use of restraint and seclusion. He draws on survey data to ascertain whether there is a link between a lack of autism awareness and provision in education settings for young people, and an increased likelihood of criminal behaviour later in life. The book looks at the type of offences that young people with autism are commonly arrested for, and the contributing autistic traits that are related to them which can be termed ‘risk factors’. Criminal offences including stalking, arson and cyber-dependent crimes are examined in detail, and this book also considers how individuals with ASD are treated by the criminal justice system. This volume is ideal for students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of forensic psychology, criminology, special educational needs, and social work.