Apparently Swartz did. I imagine *plenty* of neurodivergent people would. Someone says “you’re on the hook for a 200 year in prison crime”, what else would someone who thinks literally think that means?

Firstly, the max penalty was 35 years not 200[1]. Even 35 years wouldn't be his entire life.

He also wasn't only hearing the voice of the prosecutor. He also assuredly had people telling him more realistic outcomes. Maybe that message never got through to him because he was not in the right mental state. It is possible that with the right people to talk to he would have realized there was plenty of reasons to continue living. That is why I think it is important to be honest about what killed him. We need to normalize the type of struggles he went through. We should make it clear that if even he can succumb to mental health problems that there is no outsmarting something like this. That is a more valuable lesson than "the district attorney has blood on her hands".

[1] - https://web.archive.org/web/20120526080523/http://www.justic...