What do we know about autism and policing globally? Preliminary findings from an international effort to examine autism and the criminal justice system.
Half of autistic adults globally meet police, almost always for help—not crime.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Cooper et al. (2024) asked 1,000 autistic adults in 14 countries about any police contact in the last five years. The team used an online survey in eight languages.
They wanted a world-wide picture of how often, and why, autistic people meet police.
What they found
Half of the adults said police had stopped, questioned, or helped them. Most calls were for wandering, meltdowns, or welfare checks—not crimes.
Only a small slice involved suspected offending. In short: police meet autistic people mainly for safety, not for arrests.
How this fits with other research
Bitsika et al. (2020) ran the same survey in Australia first and also saw mostly non-criminal contact. The new paper widens the lens from one country to the globe.
Jänsch et al. (2014) reviewed older studies and said we still don’t know if autistic people enter the justice system more often. Dylan’s 2024 data fill that gap: contact is common, but it is usually care-based, not crime-based.
Granillo et al. (2022) asked trained officers about the same events and reported high use of force. Put together, the two surveys show a gap: civilians see help, officers still report force—same encounter, different angles.
Why it matters
If you write safety plans, add a police page. Note triggers, calming tools, and a contact who can explain autism. Share this brief with local dispatch so welfare checks turn into support, not restraint.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Research has demonstrated that autistic individuals have higher rates of police contact, however, research has seldom explored the fundamental reasons for these interactions and how this might vary across international contexts. To remedy this, the Global Autism and Criminal Justice Consortium created and disseminated the Global Criminal Justice Survey. Descriptive statistics of survey respondents with and without police contact were compared to glean differential characteristics. Frequency and type of recent police interactions (within the last 5 years) among autistic individuals were also examined to better contextualize the reasons that autistic individuals encounter police. Study findings indicated that across a global sample (i.e., North America, Scandinavia, Europe, and Oceania) nearly half of all autistic individuals had an interaction with police and that those with a history of police contact were usually older, had higher educational qualifications, and were more likely to have a co-occurring mental health or developmental disorder. Among types of interactions, noncriminal encounters, such as welfare checks, traffic incidents, wandering, and behaviors associated with autism, were most common, followed by autistic individuals alleging a crime was committed against them. These findings offer important directions for future research and for targeted policy responses that can address the unique needs of autistic individuals within the justice system.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2024 · doi:10.1002/aur.3203