The mental health and criminal justice systems are two of the major control mechanisms in American society that often function together through related and interdependent structures to identify and control deviant behavior. Both systems employ coercive control. In addition, regardless of the specific form of the deviance, these control institutions also use informal social control to reinforce ...

Asperger's Disorder has the potential to be relevant to many aspects of the functioning of the criminal justice system. However, its mere presence does not excuse or justify all offending. The inquiry into its potential relevance to criminal offending and sentencing must be both contextual and informed by suitably qualified expert evidence. This column reviews court decisions in respect of offe...

The setting-up of the Criminal Cases Review Commission has set back the pursuit of justice in the UK by more than twenty years. We now have a post-trial process that is long-drawnout but only intermittently efficacious. We have also created a situation whereby the UK criminal justice system has a defective trial process and a defective appeals process, but then abdicates its responsibility for ...

Asperger's Disorder remains an under-diagnosed condition because of clinical unfamiliarity with its adult presentation. As forensic clinicians become familiar with the presentation of Asperger's disorder, it appears that affected individuals are over-represented in forensic criminal settings. Unique features of such persons may heighten their risks for engaging in criminal behavior. Both Theory...