This article examines the psychological consequences of short- and long-term solitary confinement for prisoners in the United States subjected to administrative or disciplinary segregation. Particular attention is paid to the use of secure housing units, alternatively known as control units or supermax units. These correctional entities allow for the isolation of convicts under conditions that offer little sensory stimulation and minimal opportunities for interaction with other people. The circumstances typically found in these units and the heightened potential for the abuse of prisoners are described. The connections between internment and mental illness-as well as isolation and race, gender, and class-are explored. A set of recommendations for the reform of secure housing is presented.

This article is the first in a two-part series on psychopathy. Psychopathy is an elusive and perplexing psychological construct. Problems posed by this mental disorder are linked to changing historical interpretations impacting the current clinical community's general understanding of it, especially in relation to Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). Accordingly, the researchers provide a thorough analytical review of the major transitions associated with psychopathy's historical development. This assessment demonstrates where and how the nomenclature, meaning, degree of social condemnation, and prognosis for this mental disorder have changed. Ultimately, this article clarifies much of the uncertainty surrounding this misunderstood psychological construct.

The literature on sexual homicide and serial murder has offered mostly descriptive or anecdotal accounts. What seems to underscore these crimes is a series of paraphilias (i.e., sexually deviant behaviors) that give rise to violent conduct. The motivational model of Burgess et al. and the trauma-control model of Hickey indicate as much in their respective sexual homicide and serial murder typologies. However, neither model offers a detailed conceptual account of the etiology and process of paraphilias, especially in relationship to lust murder, or erotophonophilia. This article attempts to fill this gap in the research. The authors demonstrate how the motivational and trauma-control typologies are assimilable, making possible an integrated theoretical paraphilic schema. The authors explain how paraphilias as a system of behavior function as motive in the sexually sadistic act of lust murder. They conclude by exploring the implications of their conceptual synthesis for clinical forensic treatment and law enforcement practice.

Drug treatment courts emerged in 1989 as a court-based solution to an enormous increase of drug-related arrests. Since their inception, drug treatment courts have been subject to empirical and process evaluations to provide quantitative and qualitative data regarding their effectiveness. This article reviews the extant literature on the effectiveness of drug treatment courts and discusses findings regarding various components of the criminal justice system. It is argued that based on empirical evaluation findings, drug treatment courts have achieved success in lowering rates of recidivism among drug offenders, despite problematic methodological and analytical concerns. This article also presents key components and agents of drug treatment courts and discusses their impact and relevance to policy creation and adaptation. It is suggested that when combined with empirical evaluations, process evaluations provide great insight into the drug-treatment-court dynamic. This article concludes with a discussion of the implications of drug treatment courts for justice policy.