Autism and Police Use of Force: A Content Analysis of Fourth Amendment Violations

• In Event: A Collection of Systematic Content Analyses of Constitutional Criminal Procedure Issues

Abstract

The increased attention to police violence in the last decade has shed light on use-of-force cases involving individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a complex developmental disability involving challenges with social interactions and communication. Although the nature of these interactions remains largely unknown, it is suggested that the overlap in behaviors exhibited by autistic individuals and ones that police are trained to find deceptive, non-compliant, and passive-resistant shape use-of-force outcomes. Even less is known about how the law protects–or fails to protect–autistic individuals’ Fourth Amendment rights in these incidents. The current study uses the legal database Nexis Uni to examine Fourth Amendment cases involving autistic individuals and law enforcement from 2013 to 2023. Results suggest that courts often rule in favor of law enforcement, particularly applying a totality-of-circumstances approach. Overall, the current study highlights the critical need to integrate criminological and legal scholarship to best inform policing practices and uphold autistic individuals’ constitutional rights.

Author

• Isabella Elena Castillo, Arizona State University