Send us a text Mark Mahoney reveals his groundbreaking work as possibly the only attorney in North America exclusively dedicated to defending individuals with autism spectrum disorder who face criminal charges. Through years of specialized practice, he shares crucial insights about how the criminal justice system fundamentally misunderstands autism. • Autism directly affects social understanding and learning of unwritten rules • People with autism often commit crimes without understanding they're doing anything wrong • Most prosecutors, judges, and attorneys lack basic knowledge about autism • Many clients have normal or high IQs but social skills equivalent to a 3-year-old • The criminal justice system treats autism cases as standard situations despite DOJ guidelines • Organizations meant to advocate for autism often avoid addressing criminalization issues • Prevention through explicit teaching of social and sexual boundaries is crucial • Careful selection of attorneys who understand autism is essential for families • Mahoney's cases show 40% success at keeping clients off sex offender registry • Zero percent recidivism among his nearly 200 clients demonstrates these are not typical offenders If you know anyone who would like to share their story, send them to TonyMantor.com. Tell everyone everywhere about Why Not Me, The World, because you are not alone in this world. https://tonymantor.com https://Facebook.com/tonymantor https://instagram.com/tonymantor https://twitter.com/tonymantor https://youtube.com/tonymantormusic intro/outro music bed written by T. Wild Why Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
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Welcome to Why Not Me? The World Podcast, hosted by Tony Mantor. Broadcasting from Music City, USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Join us as our guests tell us their stories. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry. real life people who will inspire and show that you are not alone in this world.
Hopefully you gain more awareness, acceptance, and a better understanding for autism around the world. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Why Not Me? The World, Humanity Over Handcuffs, The Silent Crisis Special Event. Joining us today is Mark Mahoney. Since the early 80s, Mark has been among a select group of top criminal trial lawyers in Western New York.
He is currently the only lawyer in North America and possibly worldwide, who dedicates his practice almost exclusively to represent individuals with autism spectrum disorder. He possesses a vast knowledge of information to share with us today. It's both an honor and a pleasure to have him here. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, it's an interesting project you've got there. I appreciate that.
If you would, give us a little information about your practice.
Where I am, doing this almost exclusively about a decade ago, the thing that has always struck me, I started getting calls from people all over the country. I was surprised there weren't any other lawyers doing what I'm doing, certainly not to the extent that I'm doing it. There are some who say that they... handle these cases, but when you track it down, they're not really doing a lot of it.
Or it's hard to find people doing more than one case. And there's some who say that they have a practice involving this, but I've reached out to some of these people and they're not really telling me anything about what they do, actually. Because I'd like to liaison with people. I'd like to know I could refer cases to people because I am just overwhelmed with this.
You've been in this business for a long time. How did you become an advocate for autism and mental health within your practice?
I had a basic criminal, somewhat normal criminal practice. I had some very large cases. Starting out early in my career, I did a lot of homicides and I got involved in a serial killer case when I was only like four years out of law school. I've had cases where trial lasts six months.
And then what happened is that back in 2007, I got a call from a very well-known lawyer in New York City asking for my help on a case involving somebody who was charged with child pornography. in Rochester, New York, which is in our federal district.
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