The Case for Measuring Legal Actor Contributions in Court Proceedings

Abstract

The importance of legal actor contributions has been highlighted in recent international guidelines proposed for the evaluation of court programs and is evident when reviewing the literature on good research design. However, attempts to measure legal actor contributions from an objective and therapeutic perspective as part of the ongoing therapeutic jurisprudence movement are scarce in the literature. To date, no court evaluation programs have included an objective measurement of legal actor contributions as a feature of their research design. However, several programs have attempted to measure this variable via self-report or the perceptions of other legal actors. This article highlights the necessity and usefulness for both the mainstreaming therapeutic jurisprudence movement and problem-solving courts to find a way to measure legal actor contributions effectively and objectively when evaluating court processes, impacts and outcomes. The proposed measurement tool could also function as a respectful mechanism to give feedback for magistrates wishing to embed therapeutic jurisprudence practices into their work in mainstream courts and could potentially be used in judicial training.