Understanding Therapeutic Jurisprudence: A Review & Exploration

1. Chapter 1 The DNA of Therapeutic Jurisprudence by David B. Wexler The aim of this chapter is to briefly review the conceptual framework of TJ and to illustrate the important relationship between the therapeutic design of the law (TDL) and therapeutic application of the law (TAL), in the hope that the TJ method will encourage others to “think TJ” in their own set areas and thereby contribute to the true “mainstreaming” of TJ internationally and across disciplines.

2. Chapter 2 Therapeutic Jurisprudence – A Strong Community and Maturing Discipline By Nigel Stobbs, Lorana Bartels and Michel Vols TJ can now be legitimately conceived of as a theory, research method, conceptual lens, community of scholars and practitionersand/ora paradigm. In this book, these are conceptions which arise in various places, and the scholars who invoke them explain what they mean, how they make use of the concepts and why they believe them to be valid.

3. Chapter 3 Therapeutic Jurisprudence as Theoretical and Applied Research by Nigel Stobbs This chapter explores TJ as method and seeks to demonstrate that it is possible to use TJ as a framework for pure research and convince readers that practical (applied) legal research, which is fundamentally driven by clearer and more express links to TJ theory, rather than just loosely or arbitrarily aligned with it, can yield powerful insights.

4. Chapter 4 Theory and Methodology of Therapeutic Jurisprudence by Michel Vols ...we need to acknowledge that TJ as a theory can mean something completely different for a psychologist or criminologist than for a legal researcher who analyzes doctrinal legal data with the help of normative propositions. To advance the development of TJ, it is advised that each time scholars purport to use TJ as a theory or debate its theoretical nature, they make clear what they mean by theory and why TJ qualifies as such a theory.

5. Chapter 5 Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Intellectual Activism and Legislation by David C. Yamada Despite the growing body of TJ-related work, I submit that both the “wine” and “bottles” of legislative drafting and the legislative process are among the more neglected aspects of TJ scholarship, commentary and practice. With notable exceptions… the bulk of TJ activity has been outside of the legislative forum. This chapter attempts to fill some of that void by proposing, discussing and applying a TJ methodology for engaging in legislative scholarship and advocacy.

6. Chapter 6 Paying Attention to the Person: Compassion, Equality, and Therapeutic Jurisprudence by Anthony Hopkins and Lorana Bartels This chapter argues that that compassion is the psychology that explains and enables TJ and is something we can select for in circumstances where promoting therapeutic outcomes is valued. This also opens the way to considering whether compassion can be trained and developed, thereby enhancing therapeutic capacity. In addition, “self-compassion” training offers the potential to reduce burnout and vicarious trauma. It is also relevant to our work as law teachers.

7. Chapter 7 A TJ Approach to Mental Disability Rights Research: On Sexual Autonomy and Sexual Offending by Michael L. Perlin, Heather Ellis Cucolo, and Alison J. Lynch We conclude that, while TJ has spread far and wide (substantially through David Wexler’s dual focus on the therapeutic design of the law (TDL) and the therapeutic application of the law (TAL) it is still the area of mental disability law that is its heart and soul. We believe all TJ practitioners ought to take seriously the scholarship that has developed in this specific area …shed light on TJ’s potential application to all other aspects of the law – substantive, procedural and structural. In this chapter, we will focus primarily on its application to questions of sexual autonomy and sexual offending.

8. Chapter 8 Death Investigation and Therapeutic Jurisprudence by Ian Freckelton This chapter reflects on how death investigation processes have been infused by the values and insights deriving from TJ. It argues that recent awareness of the relevance of TJ to coronial processes has improved the capacity for investigation of deaths to reduce the anti-therapeutic sequelae of relevant deaths and to improve the capacity of such investigations to prevent future, avoidable deaths. However, further reflection is required, to ensure that alertness and sensitivity to the consequences of deaths are incorporated in a balanced way into all aspects of death investigation.

9. Chapter 9 Exploring Therapeutic Jurisprudence in New Zealand Specialist Criminal Courts by KateyThom and Stella Black A core aim of this chapter is to illustrate the usefulness of working with communities to create nuanced understandings of the space where the global and the local meet. The authorsset out three main areas of their participatory research approach : 1. embrace complexity (even if it disrupts existing TJ thinking); 2. commit to whakawhanaunatanga (building of meaningful relationships) throughout research processes; and 3. privilege and empower participants as experts.

10. Chapter 10 A LJ-PJ-TJ-EBP Model in Offender Release and Supervision by Martine Herzog-Evans If we want… justice that aims not only at preventing reoffending and at rehabilitation but ultimately at promoting wellbeing, then we need TJ to become the mainstream model of criminal justice. … TJ must become a testable model...I have first merged LJ-PJ and TJ and then merged it with the RNR treatment model and the ten key PSC components This integrative approach has built upon my previous work pertaining to the penal continuum. It has been my view that if TJ and its applications are to go beyond being a parallel system and become part of mainstream fair and humane justice, then they must join forces with LJ-PJ, the empirical cousin of TJ. We need to be able to model these components and to learn how to disseminate them across the entire penal continuum.

11. Chapter 11 Policy and Practice: Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Offender Rehabilitation in Australia by Astrid Birgden The following chapter will consider my application of TJ, as a psychologist, to the correctional system, in order to enhance the positive or therapeutic effects of offender rehabilitation. The application of a TJ framework will be considered at a macro or policy level across a statewide correctional system in Victoria and at a micro or practice level to a drug treatment prison in New South Wales. The development and application of TJ principles to the correctional system occurred over a decade in Australia, commencing in 2000.

12. Chapter 12 Free Legal Aid for Women and Therapeutic Jurisprudence: The Indian Model by DebaratiHalder This particular chapter reflects on my research into the effectiveness of these legal aid services to women, particularly to victims of domestic violence, from a TJ perspective. I have examined various laws and legal processes from India, as well as global perspectives, which I focus on in light of the TJ concern for the emotional and psychological wellbeing of those who are considered to be “consumers of justice.” There is less awareness of TJ principles in India, and so less emphasis is placed on the experiences of those who come into contact with the legal system beyond the substantive legal outcome.

13. Chapter 13 Understanding Family Violence in the Court: Applying a TJ Lens to Courtroom Research by Karen Gelb This chapter presents reflections on my work for the Royal Commission, Understanding Family Violence Court Proceedings: The Impact of Family Violence on the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria (Gelb 2016). When I began the research for the Royal Commission, I was familiar with the principles of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) generally, but had neither closely studied its application nor explicitly used its principles in my prior research. But as the work progressed and I spent more time in court, observing and discussing family violence matters, I came to appreciate more fully the value of TJ not only in the court process, but in the research process itself.

14. Chapter 14 Evaluating the Application of TJ Principles: Lessons from the Drug Court Experience by Caroline S. Cooper The aim of this chapter is briefly to review the conceptual framework of TJ and to illustrate the important relationship between TDL and TAL, all in the hope that the TJ method will encourage others to “think TJ” in their own set areas and thereby contribute to the true “mainstreaming” of TJ internationally and across disciplines.

15. Chapter 15 Social Control Theory in Mental Health Courts: Reflections on Writing a “TJ” PhD by Liz Richardson There are clearly synergies between a TJ analysis and Cohen’s social control and the net-widening framework. Both are directed at generating positive change, an aspect of Cohen’s analysis which is not often recognized. Further, within an explicitly TJ thesis, net-widening is a useful tool to examine the anti-therapeutic aspects of MHCs or other criminal justice programs. The thesisidentified the aspects of MHCs that are based in TJ [, leading to] further research … examining the TDL and TAL of MHCs and discussing some of the problematic aspects of the TAL that arose from the analysis.

16. Chapter 16 Reflections on Sentencing Issues in the Broadcast Trial of Oscar Pistorius by Annette van der Merwe This chapter examined the Oscar Pistorius case. Although this matter is not typically one where the principles of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) would find application, the defense case presented during the sentencing stage, as well as both judgments of the trial judge (unlike that of the court of appeal) are permeated with compassion and therapeutic values. These values are evaluated, as well as the use and influence of behavioral science in sentencing decisions.