We kinda felt this way until we moved to MIchigan. That was the best thing we ever did for our son. Love Michigan.

~h

Well.... based on what you describe, in our system, we would do an evaluation, identify his needs (medical, employment, housing) and he may be place on probation and asked to follow the plan. Some first offenders can be placed in a diversion program and after one year, the criminal record is expunged. One of the requirements of the plan would be no contact with this girl... I hope someone in the system can see that he probably will not be helped by jail... but a firm structured plan to help him make decisions and choices in his favor is what he needs...

I'm in the UK, My 18 year old son with ASD/ADHD, he got sent to prison, he served 7 days but solicitor managed to get him out, he now has a 12 month suspended sentence where he has to do 150 hours a week community service ( which was a problem at first as he doesn't like being with/near people he doesn't know) sees his probation officer once a week, and is meant to have anger management, the police and a probation officer referred him to the mental health services, but the mental health team have refused him as they said they don't take people with ASD, he desperatly needs this help, no one took his autism and how vulnerable he is into account, in fact they seemed in my eyes to come down harder on him. It's a worry as his so easily led, but one more wrong thing, can put him straight back in prison in the next 12 months, well he has 10 months left now.

There are all kinds of injustices in the US. First of all, ADA does not fully protect workers because some states are at will to work states which means even if your disability is affecting your job, you can still be fired. Then, the mental health system is a joke. So many people in jail or homeless have mental illnesses but never get the treatment they deserve. It's really sad.

Thanks Nancy, yes I agree with you. It's a long story what happened but he was used and abused by an older girl who took half his disability money off him, she lied, she'd said she'd love to see him lose his temper, basically she wanted him put away, he lost his temper damaged her door, never hurt her or anyone, she called the police etc, I understand he must understand what is wrong, no matter what, he shouldn't have done that, but it was his first offence, he needed to be punished, but thought prison was very hard. Since a young child I have tried to get him help for his temper because he refuses medication, but no one will, its down to funding here. I worry that without help. In time something like this could happen again. Even his solicitor and the prison officers thought they'd gone over the top with my son.