The law is unjust to begin with. I don't blame anyone for breaking it twice. Would I recommend it? No. That doesn't mean I have to judge them for it.
The scary behavior here is his violence; but that violence was clearly a reaction to the violence he was confronted with: being arrested and threatened. I'm not convinced that he is a threat to society.
Sure, I can agree that it was wrong for him to react with violence. But what else could I reasonably expect from someone with Autism being punished for technically-illegal behavior?
Have you ever spent more than 10 minutes with someone who has severe Autism? If you have, then you know not to expect them to be great at following arbitrary rules. That doesn't mean they have to be institutionalized!
The solution to this problem is well-known: treatment. It's clear that that is not the goal in this case.
OK, so prosecute him for fraud. I would totally support that.
My criticism is that we aren't talking about fraud: we are talking about hacking. We are talking about legally-enforced secrets.
We are talking about a violent reaction to being prosecuted for hacking. What if was about the fraud instead? Would his reaction be the violent then? We can never know.
I'm supposed to be afraid to live in a society where this person participates. Afraid enough to sacrifice the rest of his life. I'm not convinced.
The law is unjust to begin with. I don't blame anyone for breaking it twice. Would I recommend it? No. That doesn't mean I have to judge them for it.
The scary behavior here is his violence; but that violence was clearly a reaction to the violence he was confronted with: being arrested and threatened. I'm not convinced that he is a threat to society.
Sure, I can agree that it was wrong for him to react with violence. But what else could I reasonably expect from someone with Autism being punished for technically-illegal behavior?
Have you ever spent more than 10 minutes with someone who has severe Autism? If you have, then you know not to expect them to be great at following arbitrary rules. That doesn't mean they have to be institutionalized!
The solution to this problem is well-known: treatment. It's clear that that is not the goal in this case.