ABSTRACT
In Newtown, Connecticut, 2012, a 20-year-old adolescent with a form of autism first killed his mother and, subsequently, drove to his former primary school and took the lives of 26 people. Many of them were primary school children. After this killing spree he committed suicide. Reports of extreme, sensational cases like this example of the second-deadliest school shooting in the US have caused some to link Autism Spectrum Disorder. Another expressed fear is that of false stereotypes and stigmatisation leading to less adequate guidance for people with ASD. Although it is often highlighted by the media that an offender has an ASD diagnosis, the connections between autism and these acts are not so straightforward. The goal of this chapter is to illustrate what exactly is known about the relationship between ASD, aggression and criminal acts and what the causes of this apparent link could be. Violent acts were the most common offending behaviour followed by threatening conduct and destructive behaviour.
