This study and article from 2014 made me angry.

[Mia]

New Study Shows 92% Of Convicted Murderers (have) Aspergers Syndrome
By Dr. Franklin Forrester on June 27, 2014

The Wyoming Institute Of Technology‘s very own, Dr. Franklin Forrester, will be published in next month’s American Journal of Medicine. The essay details recent findings from a seven year study which focused on convicted murderers who have been diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome.

Dr. Forrester and his team of psychiatric professionals, doctors and criminal psychologists interviewed over two thousand different prisoners, in seven different states. The group focused on the correlations between autism, and criminal offenders. What they found shocked everyone.

The following is an excerpt from the AMJMED article due out next month.

“My inspiration for this study was the tragedy that took place on April. 16th 2007, and is widely refereed to as the Virginia Tech Massacre. Seung-Hui Cho, took the lives of 32 students and wounded 17 others. He had been diagnosed with autism as a child, and after watching the video he released prior to the killings, I felt this was an accurate assessment.


I began my research in the fall of 2008. I initially financed and managed the launch of the project. A year later I was fortunate enough to receive multiple generous government grants in order to continue the study. The inquiry has been my primary focus for the past 7 years.

These travesties have become common place in today’s news, and are occurring with an unsettling frequency. This study has enabled us to outline the distinct interconnections between autism and manslaughter, we hope that ultimately, this study will provide professionals with the information they need in order to intercept potential offenders before tragedy strikes. Our goal is to save lives.

After conducting extensive interviews with 2,342 prisoners, and evaluating the psychiatric histories of another 10,000 inmates, we were able to conclude that roughly 92 percent of murderers fell somewhere within the high-functioning autism spectrum.”

In the full essay, Dr. Forrester goes onto describe the scientific methodology behind his study, as well as releasing further data, and proposes several solutions to the epidemic.

The issue will hit stores July 12th, 2014.

http://witscience.org/new-study-shows-92-convicted-murderers-suffer-aspergers-syndrome/

###

If you would like more information on Dr. Forrester’s research, or to schedule an interview with Dr. Forrester, please email him at: [email protected]


This kind of schlock science based on the premise that people with Asperger's are crazed murderers does not consider that the difficulties of Asperger's as based in a social skills deficit. Social skills deficits do not make people go out and murder others.

This article and research and paper seems as if it hopes for a way to scapegoat people on the spectrum. Which is exactly what it seems to do. People with Asperger's that I've encountered here and in person are the most law-abiding people I've ever known.

There has to be something more to the idea that people on the spectrum are less ethical than others, in my interactions with others with Asperger's, they seem more ethical and moral than the general public. What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Judge]

https://www.elsevier.com/connect/hoax-blog-touts-fake-ajm-article-linking-aspergers-to-murder

 

[Mia]

Looked through the American journal of medicine Judge, there was no reference to this article as being published. Should have known when I came across this on the website, by their sponsors:

For more than seventy years, the Wyoming Institute of Technology has been partnering with global leaders in their respective fields. From helping Halliburton investigate the sustainability of green energy, to aiding companies like BP and Exxon-Mobil develop innovative methods of cleaning up unfortunate ecological messes, to providing Phillip Morris with critical research to highlight the dangers — and the myths of dangers — regarding smoking, WIT has stood at the forefront of corporate-sponsored scientific research and development for decades, with greater achievements than any other privately-owned scientific think tank in the world.

The next time you’re enjoying a delicious cheeseburger enhanced in every way by Monsanto’s GMO technology, think of WIT’s research. When you’re filling up your car with cost-effective fuel, know that it was WIT research that told oil companies how eco-friendly and virtually limitless our supply of oil is. And when your doctor prescribes a perfectly affordable medication for an illness you didn’t even realize you had, rest assured that medical researchers at WIT helped create that drug, and even helped discover the illness that drug is saving your life from.

 

[Mia]

Thanks Judge

 

[Judge]

Thanks Judge

I got lucky. The first thing I did was google Dr. Franklin Forrester and the links went "tilt".

But this sort of scapegoating just drives me bonkers. With every mass murder story since Adam Lanza, I often find myself cringing and wondering if the suspect was on the spectrum. Hoping that it isn't the case. I hate having such thoughts.

Otherwise those with a proverbial scapegoating mentality come out of the woodwork...only to harm us all as a community as opposed to examining the acts of any crazed individual.

 

[Mia]

The above article as Judge just proved is a hoax. My anger at seeing this sort of garbage made me react instead of questioning it's validity. When I get hoaxed or fooled by something like this, and this is a first, I wonder how many people actually read this and believe it to be true? I expect that this kind of 'bad press' is somehow part of the reason that people with autism become marginalized. If the general public reads this, how can they think otherwise.

 

[tree]

http://witscience.org/
"A website called WITscience.org – which appears to post spoof articles under the name of the "Wyoming Institute of Technology (WIT)"...........looks legitimate enough, if you just give it a glance.

The articles are pretty hokey though.
Like the one about marijuana being the cure for AIDs.

https://www.elsevier.com/connect/hoax-blog-touts-fake-ajm-article-linking-aspergers-to-murder

 

[Mia]

Going to see what I can do under the 'abuse' area of this websites internet provider, to try and get that particular article removed. Seems that they have no 'abuse' email address, will be writing to the admin at:
WITSCIENCE.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com
Anyone else who wishes to do so, please feel free to.

Domain Name: WITSCIENCE.ORG
Domain ID: D172624842-LROR
WHOIS Server:
Referral URL: http://www.godaddy.com

Admin Name: Registration Private
Admin Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC
Admin Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Admin Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Admin City: Scottsdale
Admin State/Province: Arizona
Admin Postal Code: 85260
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.4806242599
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +1.4806242598
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: WITSCIENCE.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com

 

[tree]

I don't understand.
WIT is a parody/satire site.

I supposed the seeming seriousness of the phony article
was to highlight the absurdity of the topic. Sort of like in
'A Modest Proposal.'

 

[Judge]

I don't understand.
WIT is a parody/satire site.

I supposed the seeming seriousness of the phony article
was to highlight the absurdity of the topic. Soft of like in
'A Modest Proposal.'

Frankly I'd prefer such parodies to be contained to things like The Onion's Kim Jong Un being the "sexiest man alive".

 

[Judge]

Going to see what I can do under the 'abuse' area of this websites internet provider, to try and get that particular article removed.

I wouldn't bother. It's subtle, but almost exclusively political satire. Right down to their alleged corporate sponsors. Although the way they've gone about it might raise a few eyebrows from the court. That's a form of protected free speech in the country that hosts the domain.

That said, I don't like it. In attempting to mock their political adversaries, they're also mocking those of us on the spectrum. Worse to be misinforming the public just for a laugh- ultimately at our expense.

 

[Datura]

With every mass murder story since Adam Lanza, I often find myself cringing and wondering if the suspect was on the spectrum. Hoping that it isn't the case. I hate having such thoughts.

You know you are part of a marginalized population when you worry about how the crimes of others in your demographic will reflect on you. White people don't worry about how a white man holding up a convenience store is going to reflect on them. Strait people aren't concerned that strait sex offenders will cause people to see them as perverts. If you are black or queer, on the other hand, you likely cringe whenever somebody gives your people a bad name.

 

[Mia]

I wouldn't bother. It's subtle, but almost exclusively political satire. Right down to their alleged corporate sponsors. Although the way they've gone about it might raise a few eyebrows from the court. That's a form of protected free speech in the country that hosts the domain.

It may well be, although it will not stop me from attempting it in the most polite manner. Perhaps reasoning that in writing such a parody, they do in fact satirize a certain segment of the population, many of whom will understand but many who will not. The collateral damage from this targets people with Asperger's, and exposes these misconceptions to a general public who are often the most vehement in the media. With that sort of exposure, comes an entire other set of problems.

 

[Judge]

Perhaps reasoning that in writing such a parody, they do in fact satirize a certain segment of the population, many of whom will understand but many who will not. The collateral damage from this targets people with Asperger's, and exposes these misconceptions to a general public who are often the most vehement in the media. With that sort of exposure, comes an entire other set of problems.

Unfortunately just from looking at the site it's quite clear they have a specific political leaning with respect to virtually all the articles I can see on the front page of this website. In our legal system that's the trigger IMO that likely most lets them off the hook, even when it's difficult to discern satire from fact.

You cannot recover damages from satire or a parody unless you can prove actual malice apart from other free speech considerations and limitations as to imminent, lawless actions occurring directly as a result of the published information.

In essence, it's very difficult to attack political satire as anything but a form of protected free speech in the US. No matter how cruel or nasty...or misleading. Unfortunately for the autistic community, such factors don't take us into consideration so much as the perception of a social majority for which we are not honestly a part of.

 

[Mia]

Judge, the laws in my country are different. This would be considered something not as extreme as hate speech, and because this website is available to many countries in the world, where the laws regarding 'free speech' are open to interpretation by each country. It would follow that it contravenes some of my 'rights and freedoms' as perhaps a minority?

Got lost in the napoleonic code looking for something that might relate to this, but found little and of course, there is little there related to individual rights. Which is not a surprise Might have to look at something a little bit more modern.
I'm not really looking at this as something illegal though, perhaps ethical? Making an appeal to their moral fiber instead of their political bent. Thinking I might quote Oppenheimer or something of that nature

 

[Billybob]

On a broader note, it seems like there are more and more hoaxes coming out and it can be hard for me to tell what is real or not. I was just listening to something about a gmo crop study and they were worried no one was going to believe the findings because there was so much garbage around. Just an example. This wit website had an article about gmo crops also. There probably should be some accountability and maybe backlash for some of the satire and misinformation going around. Its not a big jump from that to propaganda. The onion is at least funny. I have admit I did chuckle at the part on their website about visitor requirements. I didn't know it was satire until this thread, I just thought they were wackos from glancing at the website like mentioned above

 

[Judge]

It just makes me uneasy to know there are people out there who consider this as a form of entertainment and/or social activism. It makes no allowance for those of us so inclined to take something literally in the absence of any warnings of satire or parody. I see no logic in such a thing myself, but it would seem that's my neurology telling me as much.

But I'm glad that Mia brought it to our attention. Heads up, fellow Aspies.

 

[Cosmophylla]

Although this may be a satirical article, it still bothers me that people who are looking to find a connection between crime and autism will come across it and not question it. And then pass it onto friends in emails, etc., without checking its veracity. It worries me because we all know the are many people out there who just would accept this as fact without once suspecting it was bogus.

Dangerous stuff. I appreciate the intellectual humour behind it but I feel it could do more damage than good.

 

[Mary Terry]

This article is ridiculous and insulting. Society would be better served to correlate the connection between violent crime and psychiatric disorders such as narcissism, bi-polar disorder, and schizophrenia. Prisons are full of narcissists (who are untreatable) and un-medicated individuals who likely would benefit from medications and therapy.

 

[Tom]

Just a reminder. The article was a fake.