Autism in adult and juvenile delinquents: a literature review

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Abstract

Background

Here we present an overview of the literature on autism in adult and juvenile delinquents. We analyzed both the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in groups of delinquents and the prevalence of offending in people with ASD. There is a high prevalence of psychiatric disorders amongst people in custody, but there is disagreement about the prevalence of ASD in this population. Some studies have found overrepresentation of people with ASD in forensic populations whereas others have found that people with ASD have a similar rate of offending to the general population.

Methods

We carried out a systematic search of literature published between 1990 and 2016 and identified studies on the co-occurrence of autism and delinquency using standard search engines.

Results

The prevalence of delinquency in the ASD population varied from 5 to 26%, whilst ASD was found in 2–18% of the forensic populations studied. The reported prevalence of ASD in delinquents and of offending in people with ASD varied widely. This might be due to the use of different diagnostic instruments, the diversity of the samples, the high rate of comorbid psychiatric disorders and the various types of offending behavior.

Conclusions

We cannot conclude from our analysis that people with ASD are more likely to offend than the general population.

Related collections

Most cited references 44

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Epidemiological surveys of autism and other pervasive developmental disorders: an update.

Eric Fombonne (2003)

This paper was commissioned by the committee on the Effectiveness of Early Education in Autism of the National Research Council (NRC). It provides a review of epidemiological studies of pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) which updates a previously published article (The epidemiology of autism: a review. Psychological Medicine 1999; 29: 769-786). The design, sample characteristics of 32 surveys published between 1966 and 2001 are described. Recent surveys suggest that the rate for all forms of PDDs are around 30/10,000 but more recent surveys suggest that the estimate might be as high as 60/10,000. The rate for Asperger disorder is not well established, and a conservative figure is 2.5/10,000. Childhood disintegrative disorder is extremely rare with a pooled estimate across studies of 0.2/10,000. A detailed discussion of the possible interpretations of trends over time in prevalence rates is provided. There is evidence that changes in case definition and improved awareness explain much of the upward trend of rates in recent decades. However, available epidemiological surveys do not provide an adequate test of the hypothesis of a changing incidence of PDDs.

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Diagnostic procedures in autism spectrum disorders: a systematic literature review.

Torbjorn Falkmer, Katie B Anderson, Marita Falkmer … (2013)

At present, 'gold standard' diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is a lengthy and time consuming process that requires suitably qualified multi-disciplinary team (MDT) personnel to assess behavioural, historical, and parent-report information to determine a diagnosis. A number of different tools have been developed to assist in determination. To optimise the diagnostic procedures, the best diagnostic instruments need to be identified. This study is a systematic review addressing the accuracy, reliability, validity and utility of reported diagnostic tools and assessments. To be included in this review, studies must have (1) identified an ASD diagnostic tool; (2) investigated either diagnostic procedure or the tools or personnel required; (3) be presented in English; (4) be conducted in the Western world; (5) be one of three types of studies [adapted from Samtani et al. in Cochrane Database Syst Rev 3:1-13, 2011], viz. (a) cohort studies or cross-sectional studies, (b) randomised studies of test accuracy, (c) case-control studies. MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Scopus, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases were scrutinised for relevant literature published from 2000 inclusive on 20th January 2012. In total, 68 articles were included. 17 tools were assessed. However, many lacked an evidence base of high quality-independent studies. The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) stood out with the largest evidence base and highest sensitivity and specificity. When the ADI-R and ADOS were used in combination they revealed levels of accuracy very similar to the correct classification rates for the current 'gold standard' diagnostic procedure viz. 80.8% for ASD. There is scope for future studies on the use of the ADI-R and ADOS in combination.

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Prevalence of Asperger's syndrome in a secure hospital.

Prakesh S. Shah, P. Scragg (1994)

The hypothesis that Asperger's syndrome (AS) may go unrecognised in forensic populations was examined by ascertaining the prevalence in Broadmoor Special Hospital. The entire male patient population was screened by examination of case notes. Identified cases were subject to the next stage of the study, which involved observation and interviewing of patients, and a semi-structured interview of key staff. A prevalence of 1.5% (0.6% to 3.3%, 95% CI) was found. The addition of equivocal cases increased the prevalence to 2.3%. The prevalence of AS in Broadmoor Hospital is greater than that reported for the general population.

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Author and article information

Contributors

A. X. Rutten: AX.Rutten@ggze.nl

R. R. J. M. Vermeiren: r.r.j.m.vermeiren@curium.nl

Ch. Van Nieuwenhuizen: ch.van.nieuwenhuizen@ggze.nl

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

Title: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1753-2000

Publication date (Electronic): 22 September 2017

Publication date PMC-release: 22 September 2017

Publication date Collection: 2017

Volume: 11

Electronic Location Identifier: 45

Affiliations

[1 ]Center for Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, GGzE, PO Box 909, 5600 AX Eindhoven, The Netherlands

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0943 3265, GRID grid.12295.3d, Tranzo-Scientific Center for Care and Welfare, , Tilburg University, ; Tilburg, The Netherlands

[3 ]ISNI 0000000089452978, GRID grid.10419.3d, Curium-LUMC, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, , Leiden University Medical Center, ; Leiden, The Netherlands

[4 ]ISNI 0000 0004 0435 165X, GRID grid.16872.3a, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, , VU University Medical Center, ; Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Article

Publisher ID: 181

DOI: 10.1186/s13034-017-0181-4

PMC ID: 5609035

PubMed ID: 28947914

SO-VID: 5c642e03-8ffa-4ce6-9b4b-46f1f596c546

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.