The prevalence and pattern of offending and other law-breaking among groups of men and women with High Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome (ASDs) living in the community has not, so far, been examined empirically. In this study, the illegal behaviours of a small sample (N = 25) of people with ASDs were investigated. Unexpectedly, both self-report and ‘official’ data indicated that the rate of law-breaking, including offending, was very low. Indeed, it was significantly (p<0.05) lower than that of a stringent non-ASD comparison group (N = 20). Despite similarities, however, there were some striking differences between the patterns of illegal behaviours in the two groups. The participants with a diagnosis of an ASD were significantly (p<0.01) less likely to report that they had engaged in illicit drug-taking; in contrast, they were significantly more likely (p<0.05) to report activities which could be categorised as ‘criminal damage’. Moreover, they tended to have a greater history of violent behaviours. The methodological limitations of this study, particularly the difficulties of recruiting an adequate community sample of people with ASDs, are discussed, together with the implications for the development of services for the small minority of men and women with this diagnosis who are involved in criminal offending and other law-breaking.
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