Today I came across an article on The Economist written by Stephanie Clifford which I found to be both exceptional and profound. It details the story of Brandon Fleury, an autistic man in his early 20s who did some very terrible things and how the criminal justice system responded to his actions. It delves into what autism is, the large spectrum of actions and outcomes people with autism experience, how our criminal justice system is currently inadequately equipped to take autism into consideration, and touches on another story which was interesting in itself about the case of Navinder Sarao, and autistic man from the UK who was alleged to have caused a stock market crash.

In order to truly understand what I’m writing about here, reading Clifford’s article is a must. The Economist requires you to create an account and log in to read it, which I didn’t realize at first glance, I thought it required a paid subscription. After creating a free account and reading the article though, I decided the work was worth paying for a subscription. It is refreshing to see this kind of quality work.

There are plenty of organizations out there which can go into detail about the struggles of autism and I’ll leave that to them. However I will say that from personal experience with people I know, those with autism can have a difficult time understanding the nuances of what is appropriate to say. Often, without meaning to cause any harm at all, they can say downright mean and terrible things. It takes an understanding to not immediately be emotionally impacted by or outraged at some of the things that can be said.

Brandon was diagnosed as a child with attention-deficit disorder (ADD), attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and Asperger’s syndrome, which is a form of autism. Because of these things, he had several mental issues which included mimicking others, and not always in a good way. His father saw quite clearly the struggles his son faced and I feel greatly for what he has had to endure in this ordeal.

In high school, bullies took advantage of Brandon and assaulted him, people who he thought were his friends due to his desire to fit in and be accepted. Predictably, the same thing is happening to him in federal prison right now.

Why is Brandon in prison? In 2019 he was arrested for Cyberstalking. He had dropped out of high school after the bullying, but still yearned for attention and what I assume is to feel like he was fitting in because of it. I wasn’t there so I can only marshal the second-hand information available to me, and let me tell you, without Stephanie’s work on this issue the information would be woefully inadequate.

He spent a lot of time online, and there’s always somewhere on the internet where people can feel at home when they feel like they don’t have that offline. Unfortunately, he found an internet troll who went by the name of Lynn Ann who he decided to become inspired by because they were “popular.” This troll had been posting messages on social media about the victims of the Columbine High School shooters.

Inspired by this troll and seeking similar popularity, apparently believing that trolling is simply having fun (a lot of people believe this), he ended up taking things too far. Here are some of the messages he posted about the high school shooting in Parkland Florida, which had just happened at the time. These were directed at family and friends of people Nikolas Cruz had murdered.

“I killed your sister,” he wrote to the brother of one victim. “It was fun. She had her whole life ahead of her and I fucking stole it from her.” To Max Schachter, whose son Alex was killed, he wrote: “Little Alex Schachter will never play music again.” The messages poured out, sometimes several in a minute: “I killed your loved ones haha.” “Your grief is my joy.” “I gave them no mercy.” “I’m kidnapping you fool.”

He created fake accounts posing as mass murderers and went on to post other terrible things. His father never knew and while I hate to pass judgement on people’s parenting, he knew his son had issues and should have taken more interest in finding out what his son was doing to pass the time online. He found out quickly though when the FBI raided his home and his son eagerly told them what he had been doing.

In no way do I condone this behavior, but I also understand that some people do not have the mental capacity to truly understand the extent of what they do and say.

He had a public defender at trial, which already puts him at a disadvantage. Side-note, public defenders are overworked and lack resources. The criminal justice system is especially ill-equipped to account for people with autism.

They were able to get an expert witness but it wasn’t enough. A psychiatrist asked if the messages were meant to cause anguish; Brandon simply responded that he didn’t know what anguish is. He stated that his intent was to annoy people.

Ultimately he was sentenced to five and a half years in prison and his appeal was denied. The judges were not very understanding of his situation. There was no indication that he had ever physically assaulted anyone or had been physically aggressive, which I believe is an important aspect to consider here. Stephanie’s article further delves into a study on how different judges react to cases where a defendant has autism, which was insightful. Again, if you haven’t read her article, you absolutely should.

I have to wonder how well the public is served by sending Brandon to federal prison. Aside from the fine line the First Amendment can walk, he was found guilty and at that point we must decide on a sentence which is beneficial to everyone, though we often do not. Sending him to a treatment facility would have likely been the ideal outcome here; a place where he can get better and understand that what he did was wrong and come out the other side a better person who can live functionally within our society. The exact opposite is currently playing out though. He doesn’t appear to be getting any treatment in prison, he is being abused, doesn’t understand why he is there, and according to his father, Brandon is regressing. This isn’t beneficial to anyone except the other inmates who are abusing him.

All of this to say, another point I want to get at here is regarding the media coverage of this ordeal.

After seeing Stephanie’s article, as usual I began to seek out other sources to see if I could get a better picture of the situation. What I found was disheartening and concerning. None of the coverage scratched beneath the surface of Brandon having autism and many articles didn’t mention it at all. They were all very limited in the information included, basically painting him as some normal man who decided to threaten people for no reason and went to jail because of it.

Here’s the breakdown of the major reporting done on this case:

CBS News: No mention of autism or context.
ABC News: One sentence about his autism but explains more than most articles.
NBC News: No mention of autism or context.
CNN: No mention of autism or context.
Fox News: Briefly mentions mental issues but no real context.
USA Today: So-so reporting of the details.
Washington Post: Goes into some detail, more than others, but doesn’t mention the autism aspect.
Tampa Bay Times: Very little context but does mention the mental health experts and trial testimony.
NWF Daily News: Mentions the autism but doesn’t go into any explanation.
Miami New Times: The most substantial reporting at the time, devoting a short paragraph to context, but still lacking.

How can news consumers be well-informed when the news fails to provide the details and context? How badly does this skew people’s perception of the world due to this lack of dutiful reporting?

People with autism can already have a tough time with our society and systems, however the media isn’t helping at all in these cases to inform about the situations they face and how we need to overhaul how our systems operate to account for people like this. This is the case for many people, not just those with autism.

The lack of reporting in this situation is not unusual. Much of the reporting across a variety of topics is extremely limited, and that has a negative impact on how news consumers understand what is going on in their communities, states, country, and world.

The media could be a conduit for positive change in our criminal justice system to reduce suffering and improve outcomes for so many people, however it currently is not.