Autistic teen fatally shot by police in suburban Chicago home
Fifteen-year-old Stephon Watts was shot and killed in his home by Calumet City Police officers on February 1. In an attempt to contain and defuse public outrage at the young man’s death, media outlets have sought to downplay the child’s multiple mental illness diagnoses and emphasize police reports and protocols excusing Watts’s death. Stephon was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, at age nine. The young boy’s death is a result of the total breakdown of the most basic mental health services available to working families in many areas of the US. In budget-strapped states like Illinois, deep cuts have forced the closure of numerous mental health facilities, replacing mental health care with law enforcement, resulting in the criminalization of those in need of care.