Autism and depression in the courts is a welcome change to "under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time". That was just getting plane boring defence and easily provable!
But it seems that every time someone is up before the courts these days, their defence is that it wasn't their fault due to some illness/condition/past treatment/ethnicity etc etc. Enough with the excuses!
I think its not actually a excuse but a defence.
Also we need to look into why such a increase in Autism, particularly in kids the last years.