Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Problem-Solving Courts

Abstract

The concept of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) describes the legal system’s ability to integrate psychological knowledge with the way the courts deal with people with mental illness and mental disabilities that prevent them from following the law. It calls for dispensing justice with compassion rather than strictly ‘by the book’ and calls for retraining all personnel who work in the legal system to become more psychologically attuned to what will help people solve their problems in a more socially acceptable way. One of the most important tenets of TJ is to avoid criminalizing the mentally ill and disabled where they have become involved in a ‘revolving door’ between jail, prison, hospital, and prison. Attempts to set up better community facilities are part of the trend to develop specialty courts such as mental health, domestic violence, drug, and veterans’ courts. Unique mental health services accompany these specialty courts. For example, in domestic violence court, perpetrators are deferred into batterers treatment programs that are psychoeducational in nature and require contact with the court. In mental health court the judge usually asks the defendants to regularly check in and report progress on the various referral services such as medical and psychological treatment compliance, housing, education, or job training, etc. In drug court the judge continues to follow-up on compliance with staying sober, out-of-trouble, and attending programs. Most TJ courts that have been established all over the world are based on a team approach and are successful in reducing the high recidivism rates as well as encouraging people to take better responsibility for their lives and move toward recovery.