IEEE Spectrum July, 2011 - 37

director of the autism research centre at the
university of cambridge.
over the course of his research on autism,
baron-cohen has become an authority on the
emerging connection between asperger's and
engineering. "it makes sense that someone with
asperger's might be quite skilled at hacking," he
tells Spectrum, "simply because one of the things
they share is an understanding of systems,
including computer systems." baron-cohen
has found that more than 50 percent of people
with asperger's have an obsessive interest in
technology, physics, and space. he has also discovered that autistic children are more likely to
have engineer fathers and grandfathers than are
normal children. he has even speculated that
the rising incidence of autistic spectrum disorders may stem from a modern tendency for engineers to marry either other engineers or people
who think like them.
after a 3-hour examination, baron-cohen
found that McKinnon fit the profile. "he has
got the classic patterns of asperger's," he says.
"[McKinnon has] a very narrow attention span
and got totally obsessed searching for information
about ufos....the other feature that was pretty
classic was this social naïveté, not thinking about
how he might be perceived by others." sharp says
her shock at the news quickly faded to a sense of
relief, as the diagnosis gave reason for behavior
that had seemed so unreasonable for so long. "it
began to make sense: how Gary was, how he can
live in a dream world, how obsessed he was with
what he did," she says.
word spread of McKinnon's diagnosis, and
he became an icon of asperger's. in March 2009,
sting told the daily Mail that it was "a travesty
of human rights that Gary McKinnon finds
himself in this dreadful situation. the british
government is prepared to hand over this vulnerable man without reviewing the evidence."
Members of parliament lobbied on his behalf,
including andrew MacKinlay, who would later
resign in protest after McKinnon lost appeal
after appeal in the british courts. MacKinlay
didn't think his fellow Mps were doing enough
to protect McKinnon from being extradited
when he was far from a terrorist.
McKinnon's diagnosis has not deterred the u.s.
government from pursuing extradition. a spokesperson for the department of Justice criminal
division says the department can't comment on
the unfolding case but stands by the indictment.
McKinnon wants to be tried for his crimes in
a british court and has repeatedly asked the uK
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government to halt the extradition. in 2010 the uK home secretary
finally agreed to review the case; she is also arranging for an independent medical expert to evaluate McKinnon. baron-cohen says
the government may be making a life-or-death decision. after extensively interviewing McKinnon, he found him to be prone to depression and suicide. "if Gary McKinnon is sent to the u.s.," he said, "i
fear he will kill himself."
karen todner, m ckinnon's attorney, says the home secretary
should carefully consider McKinnon's mental faculties in making
the decision. "asperger's is not an excuse," todner says, "but it certainly puts his actions in more of a clear light." as he awaits his legal
fate, McKinnon remains under psychiatric care. he is barred from
using his computer, and he refuses to speak with friends, family, or
the press.
some question the role of the syndrome in the crime. a blogger
on aspieweb, an online hub for people with asperger's, challenges
McKinnon for using the syndrome as "a scapegoat for your actions that
are very illegal in order to get away with what you did. as someone who
has asperger's your actions are very offensive."
courts are beginning to grapple with the asperger's defense. in
august 2009, viacheslav berkovich, a 34-year-old russian immigrant in the united states diagnosed with
asperger's syndrome, received a reduced sentence after being convicted of hacking into a
co m me nt s?
trucking company's computers in california.
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in 2008, a defense witness for hans reiser,
http://spectrum.
a computer programmer convicted of bruieee.org/
tally murdering his wife, testified that reiser
autism/0711
might have asperger's. defense attorneys also
used the asperger's defense for lisa brown, a
22-year-old convicted of murdering her mother.
"someone with asperger's syndrome could still plan an act but, because
of deficiencies in their social imagination, might be unable to see what
the consequences of those actions might be," a psychiatrist said of brown,
who received a life sentence regardless.
will asperger's become a new kind of insanity defense? "the judicial system has not yet come to terms with asperger's syndrome," says
brenda Myles smith of the national professional development center
on autism spectrum disorders. "we need to ensure that [the courts are]
educated about this."
part of the problem is that asperger's is still relatively new to professionals and educators; it was added to the world health organization's
diagnostic manual only in 1992. "the majority of people with asperger's
go undiagnosed," says pat schissel, president of the asperger syndrome
and high functioning autism association. "we need greater awareness
of this in medical schools and the education system."
Maybe, just maybe, raising awareness of asperger's could even
curb more cybercrimes in the future. "it's an issue we should get on
the table and start to address," says Jeff sell, the autism society's general counsel and vice president of public policy. "these folks are very
gifted when it comes to technology, and the potential is there for some
type of concern."
o
Parts of this article first appeared in ieee spectrum's tech talk blog.
july 2011 * iEEE SpEctrum * NA

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum July, 2011