Autism, Interpersonal Violence, and Hate Crime

Pearson, A. (2025). Autism, Interpersonal Violence, and Hate Crime. In The Routledge Handbook of Disability, Crime, and Justice (pp. 500-519). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003348733-41

Publication date: 22 May 2025 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Book chapter Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)

Abstract

Autistic people are more likely to experience interpersonal forms of violence and abuse (e.g., a higher likelihood of experiencing intimate partner violence or mate crime) compared to their non-autistic counterparts. Some work has framed the high prevalence of abuse among autistic people through the lens of social vulnerability and individual difficulties identifying manipulative behaviour. However, this situates vulnerability as an innate characteristic of autistic people, as opposed to recognising how vulnerability is (1) constructed by circumstance and (2) may fluctuate across the life span. In this chapter I will examine the literature around interpersonal violence and the hate-driven abuse of autistic people from a social-ecological model perspective. I will outline that impact that this has upon autistic people and what we can do to ensure that autistic victim-survivors of violence are better supported within the criminal justice system.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

No cited bibliography is currently integrated for this reference. This does not necessarily mean that no bibliography exists.