This is all very difficult. The more days elapsed since the tragedy, especially escalate media in drawing false claims and speculations, creating urban myths and meanwhile the truth about the real causes and circumstances of the incident is becoming increasingly blurred and unclear. It changes almost by the hour and the day does not require Asperger's syndrome to explain the absurdity of this crime. Yestarday began to dominate completely different constellations of cues for reasons and motives, but it is not known whether they are indeed true. The best solution seems to be to stop before speculation until you know all the basic factoring.

Meanwhile, it starts to happen what Priscilla is afraid of. Yestarday I read more and more commentaries that lead to stigmatization of autism as such, and children and adults with autism spectrum disorders as potential agents of crime. There are formulated open or implicite thesis about a neurodevelopmental disorder as criminogenic, which can in turn lead to rejection and building generalized negative attitudes towards persons with autism and their families. This process should be stopped.

Here are some refs regarding the prevalence of criminal behavior for individuals with ASD (part of an article in preparation):

Criminal behaviour has been linked to mental disorders (Brennan, Mednick & Hodgins, 2000). However, the link between criminal behaviour and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is unclear. Defining characteristics of ASD, including impaired social and communicative abilities, inflexibility, poor empathy and impulse control, social naivety, rigidity and the pursuit of obsessive interests, have been linked to elevated levels of criminal behaviour in ASD (Barry-Walsh & Mullen, 2004; Haskins & Silva, 2006; Geluk et al., 2011; Mouridsen, 2012; Woodbury-Smith, et al., 2010). In contrast, ASD has also been put forward as a protective factor against criminal behaviour, based on an increased inclination for honesty (Scheeren, Begeer, Banerjee, Meerum Terwogt, & Koot, 2010), law abiding behaviour (Mouridsen, et al., 2008, Geluk et al, 2011), and higher access to protected environments and aggression regulation treatments (Howlin, 2004; Langstrom et al., 2009). In the current study, moderators of criminal behaviour are examined in a large sample of individuals with ASD.

To date, most scientific information on criminal behaviour in ASD is based on case studies (Newman & Ghaziuddin, 2008; Haskins & Silva, 2006), or indications of the prevalence of ASD or autistic traits in a forensic population (Scragg & Shah, 1994) Mouridsen, Rich, Isager & Nedergaard, 2008; Geluk et al., 2011, Robinson et al., 2012). In general, these studies suggest a positive link between autism, or autistic traits, and criminal behaviour, defined as an illegal act for which an individual can be punished by law (Kawakami et al., 2012). However, findings from studies that directly examine individuals with ASD are less coherent, with some reports of a lower frequency of criminal behaviour in ASD (Woodbury-Smith et al., 2006; Mordre et al., 2012; Cheely et al., 2012, Allen et al., 2006), while others report no difference between individuals with ASD or typical development (Hippler, Viding, Klicpera & Happe, 2012). Elevated levels of law-breaking behaviour have been speculated upon (Vermeiren, Jespers & Moffit, 2006), but to date, there is no strong evidence for increased frequencies of criminal behaviour among individuals with ASD (Browning & Caulfield; YEAR; Mouridsen, 2012).

Excellent response, Sander. I learned from it one should see "the big picture" (association intended) before making up one's mind. Looking at this matter only from the perspective of forensic psychiatry one is easily overwhelmed by all the indications towards higher than average crime rates. So one easily overlooks factors pointing in the opposite direction such as you mention. Among which ‘social naivety’ and ‘an increased inclination for honesty’. Both of which enhance arrest rates among the ASD-population which is all the more reason not to take those and their derivatives at face value.

Having said that, I include a small section about this from my Dutch book "Samen verder met autisme" (2011) which mainly reiterates an article by Arnold Bartels about what he found in the forensic clinic "van Mesdag" in Groningen, The Netherlands.

http://wetenschappelijktijdschriftautisme.nl/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/200601-forensische-aspecten-van-diagnostiek-en-behandeling.pdf