Asperger's as insanity defense

Hot on the heels of sending psychpaths to prison indefinitely on account of their diagnosis, a Philadelphia Inquirer article discusses letting Aspie's and Autie's off the hook on account of their diagnosis. Under the headline "Asperger's presents new challenges to court system," the story of James Lee Troutman, a 24-year-old man who confessed to raping and murdering his 9-year-old neighbor:

The so-called Asperger's defense is cropping up in legal cases nationally, as lawyers argue that people with the disorder may be incapable of completely understanding the ramifications of their actions or expressing remorse in a socially acceptable way.

Troutman's defense attorney, Craig Penglase, said his client told him he has Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, a development disorder that causes significant delays in language and cognitive development.
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Asperger's may become a factor with Troutman, who faces first- and second-degree murder and related offenses. A first-degree murder conviction could potentially carry a death penalty.

The disorder alone doesn't meet the standards for an insanity defense, but it could be a "profound" mitigating factor, information presented in court that could result in reduced charges or a lesser sentence, Penglase said.

The biggest challenge likely will be showing a human side to a man accused of a most inhumane crime. Especially before jurors who may be unfamiliar with autism disorders.

"It's difficult to explain to anyone, anything that is not part of their daily life," Penglase said. "If you don't have it in your life it's incredibly hard to appreciate it."

Sell agreed that convincing the general public that people with Asperger's may have little or no control over their impulsive behaviors or reactions is a challenge.

"People are (thinking), 'My God this person has no sympathy. What a horrible monster,' " he said. "No, that is how people with Asperger's commonly are. It doesn't mean they don't understand or feel what they did was wrong."
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At least 22 U.S. criminal cases since 2002 involved convictions that were avoided, in part, because of an Asperger's syndrome diagnosis, according to the Autism Society of America. The survey is being updated, Sell said.

Generally, the courts take the disability into consideration during the penalty phase of a trial, Sell said.

"I have a feeling we have a lot prisoners in the general population with Asperger's that have not been diagnosed and are doing time right now, and they're not getting the appropriate help or supports," he added. "And that is scary."

Really? That's the scary part? I thought the scary part was remorseless aspie's running around raping and killing children and we send them back into the community with a slap on the wrist. It reminds me of the Langston Hughes poem:

That Justice is a blind goddess

Is a thing to which we black are wise:

Her bandage hides two festering sores

That once perhaps were eyes.

Mirror image

A reader asks me about mirrors:

A blog follower of yours mentioned mirrors once. He/she said that they are fascinated by mirrors and treat them almost like it was another person; not themselves, but someone else they can converse with. (at least that's what I think they said) I only ask because I would have to agree with this particular sentiment. I too do not see myself when I look in a mirror, but something more like a friend who speaks for me, who wears my mask, who is my flack jacket whenever I need her. Do you ever feel this way? If this is getting too off-topic, no worries, I understand.

M.E.: Mirrors are funny. Sometimes if i am having an emotion, crying at some sappy movie, etc., and I am alone, I'll go to a mirror to study my reaction. It is endlessly fascinating to me to see my face reflect what appears to be true joy, to see a tear rolling down my cheek, or to see what my death stare looks like. Other times when i see myself in the mirror, i have the sensation of wanting to seduce myself, to be physically intimate with my reflection. (Interestingly, Sam Vaknin thinks narcissists are prone to molesting their family members for this reason: "The narcissist is auto-erotic. He is the preferred object of his own sexual attraction. His siblings and his children share his genetic material. Molesting or having intercourse with them is as close as the narcissist gets to having sex with himself.") I wonder if these things are really that abnormal, though. don't you think many people indulge in these mirror games?

Reader:

As for mirrors, I'm not sure how many people feel the same strange kinship to the people they see staring back. I guess it could be just a reflection without personality or interest for some people. But how many people openly recognize how they act in front of a mirror? I'd say a high level of self awareness is needed. I think I am very self aware and perhaps that is why i look in a mirror so often - I want to be sure the look on my face is appropriate for the occasion. I need to make sure my sad face is sad enough. The same with my concerned face. I've been told I suffer from eternal bitchface - even if things are sunkissed and roses in my mind, my face is often stuck in an eyebrow-arching evil queen from Snow White expression. Practicing my softer expressions takes constant practice if I want to seem interested or pleasant. And the little narcissist in me can't stand to constantly be seen with a sour expression on my face. I'm much prettier when I smile - even if I don't want to.

Brangelina

I know most of you don't think there is anything up with them, but I keep reading stuff like this, so I'll probably keep posting it until I get vindicated. In regards to a recent premiere arrival:

Needless to say, everyone lost their sh-t and [the interviewer doing the press line] had to step aside and wait for the crazy to calm before she could resume her interviews. I’ve seen this happen in person before. I’ve seen this go down, I’ve watched [Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's] reactions. It doesn’t faze them at all. People could be hurling themselves off of balconies and in between moving vehicles, those two behave as though they’ve seen it all before, so pedestrian, like it’s the natural order of things. And because they act like it’s a given, people keep responding to it like it’s a given. This is what I mean when I say they know exactly how to play it and work it to their advantage. You know in sport when coaches study tape, look at how a formation develops, analyse what was effective and not the last time around, what to tweak, what to move or modify? The Brange is so good at what they do, it’s like they take the same clinical approach to their brand. One day, in 50 years, when their time will have passed, I hope we get a book about it. They could teach the others so much.

I hope there will be a book, but I don't think it would happen unless it was Brad writing about Angelina after a messy break up in which he is blinded by his (narcissistic?) rage to lash out where he thinks it will hurt her the most. What Brad will fail to realize until it's too late is how masterfully she will take him down like she did with her father Jon Voight.

Actually, the Jon Voight example is a good cautionary tale for those people who feel like they want to "take down" a sociopath, as some of readers are eager to do. Back in 2002 Voight said Jolie had "serious mental problems," which at the time was almost credible. In fact, the producer of Tomb Raider sequel, which she was then filming, actually felt the need to address the accusation, explaining "I have an excellent team around her. If there was a problem, I would know it." She immediately cut off all contact with her father, claiming that the toxic relationship would be detrimental for her newly adopted son and asserting that her father's motives for wanting to "help" her were entirely dishonorable, he was an absentee father, a cheating husband, etc. Voight's claims, without anything else to substantiate them, ended up making him seem infinitely more crazy than she was, in much the same way that gaslighting works. The lesson to be learned is that claims that are already outlandish sounding, e.g. "X is a sociopath," are very hard to make credibly without the accuser seeming crazy (even when the accused someone as clearly off, e.g. Joey Buttafuoco).

Empathy and animals

This New York Times article was about empathy and animals, specifically about the emotional connections humans have (or imagine themselves to have) with their pets. It made an interesting point about how humans largely "empathize" with those creatures who most resemble them:

Researchers trace the roots of our animal love to our distinctly human capacity to infer the mental states of others, a talent that archaeological evidence suggests emerged anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. Not only did the new cognitive tool enable our ancestors to engage in increasingly sophisticated social exchanges with one another, it also allowed them to anticipate and manipulate the activities of other species: to figure out where a prey animal might be headed, or how to lure a salt-licking reindeer by impregnating a tree stump with the right sort of human waste.

Before long, humans were committing wholesale acts of anthropomorphism, attributing human characteristics and motives to anything with a face, a voice, a trajectory — bears, bats, thunderstorms, the moon.

James Serpell, president of the International Society for Anthrozoology, has proposed that the willingness to anthropomorphize was critical to the domestication of wild animals and forming bonds with them. We were particularly drawn to those species that seemed responsive to our Dr. Dolittle overtures.

Whereas wild animals like wolves will avert their eyes when spotted, dogs and cats readily return our gaze, and with an apparent emotiveness that stimulates the wistful narrative in our head. Dogs add to their soulful stare a distinctive mobility of facial musculature. “Their facial features are flexible, and they can raise their lips into a smile,” Dr. Horowitz said. “The animals we seem to love the most are the ones that make expressions at us.”

The concept of empathy for me must be like the concept of global warming to some -- although many people believe that it exists, personal experience makes me (1) doubt that and (2) wonder whether even if it does exist to some extent, people are using it largely to promote their own personal agendas (see also war). Even if people are actually feeling empathy, does it really just mean that they are attributing their own characteristics to others? Not that that is a worthless thing, just that maybe my inability or unwillingness to assume that everyone else thinks and feels like I do ("empathize") is not necessarily the horrible thing that it is made out to be.

Sociopaths on the internet

A sociopathic reader from Brasil:

The internet is powerful because it forces us to a much more subtle and interesting game over people. It's the game of words, no facial expressions, no voice altering, no changing the way you carry yourself, just pure words creating havoc among our friends. Now I am not calculating every single word, but when on public forums and stuff like that, datamining and hierarchies are so damn interesting. You get to a forum knowing who are the natural leaders of that forum (just like real life), then you create plans in your mind to become friends with those leaders and eventually take over their power (which is pretty hard, normally you can easily ascend to a position at his side).

It's just like we do in real life, but it's much more harmless and serves as great training for manipulation, internet people on obscure forums will rarely ever affect you outside the forum and reach you. Even if you commit a mistake on the manipulation and fuck it up, you can just abandon those targets and jump to others. There's a whole world to be manipulated, mimicked and explored. This can be interesting when we sociopaths are bored of the uninteresting people that are around us.

But let me warn you, prefer the games that train your body or mind, this way you will have fun and also become a more capable predator, with skills that can be used generically at everything.

I would like to see the others opinion about this...