People with ASD (they're not "sufferers" by the way, it isn't a disease) are perfectly capable of taking responsibility for the consequences of their own actions, in all but the most severe cases.
It's ludicrous that McKinnon is being extradited and threatened with a long prison sentence for something so silly, but his Asperger syndrome is not relevant here and to suggest that it should act as a "Get out of jail free card" is patronising in the extreme and displays a near total ignorance of the nature of his condition.
I disagree. I think it is relevant.
An Aspie - who would like struggle in everyday social interactions - would be very vulnerable indeed in a prison setting, especially a long-term secure prison with murderers and rapists and all sorts. They just don't have the devious gene required to survive in a place like that.
Aspies also tend to suffer from co-morbids (I agree with you, btw, about people not 'suffering' from AS), but suffer they can and do from co-morbids, like depression, anxiety and so on. There are health and wellbeing implications related to incarcerating an Aspie in the kind of hardcore high-security facility where it's likely McKinnon would end up if extradited and convicted.
That makes his condition relevant. Not in the sense of a 'get out of jail free' card, but in the sense that a high-security jail, where fellow convicts are likely to be extremely dangerous to a vulnerable and not-particularly wily or street-wise individual (I'm assuming, based on personal experience and knowledge of the Aspie community here) would be a cruel and unusual punishment.
And while, yes, I don't dispute that McKinnon knew that he was doing something a bit naughty, so did have an awareness of right and wrong, I don't doubt that he had no inkling whatsoever of the wider implications of his actions, that it would be perceived as a terrorist threat. I do think that being hyper-focussed and not being able to see a bigger picture is something that affects some Aspies.
I mean, even most people appreciate that there are leagues of wrong, i.e. speeding on a motorway late at night isn't as bad as armed robbery of a bank.
Who could have foreseen that looking for information about UFO conspiracies and proof of alien life-forms or whatever he was looking for could have ended up with him facing terrorism charges.
As an Aspie, that does not compute. Aspies are quite logical, as I'm sure you know. It would be extremely bewildering for an Aspie - who *knows* he's not a terrorist, and hasn't committed any act of terrorism, to be facing spending the rest of his life in prison for committing offences he hasn't committed. Does not compute.
It would be bad enough to be charged and convicted with offences that had been committed, that would be logical, that would compute. But this just doesn't. And I think that would lead to a lot of additional anguish for an Aspie.
Think of a miscarriage of justice, and the sense of frustration and futility an NT (neurotypical) would feel. Now think what effect a miscarriage of justice would have on someone who is hardwired for order, logic, it would totally blow a brain fuse. The impact on an Aspie would, I would argue, be far worse than the impact of such a situation on an NT. It would be not just the regular punishment, but a cruel and unusual punishment over and above that which would be experienced by an NT.
So I do believe his diagnosis is relevant.
