Guest blogger Jordan Tutton writes... In early 2016, a young Indigenous Australian man robbed a liquor store in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. He pleaded guilty and asked to be sentenced in a specialist criminal court established to sentence Indigenous Australians. That Court was convened in September 2016 around a comically long Bar … Continue reading What can mainstream courts learn from aboriginal sentencing courts…
A judicial officer assists offenders to set rehabilitation goals & strategies (TJ Court Craft Series #8)
The TJ Court Craft Series provides practical insights and tools for judges interested in therapeutic jurisprudence, problem solving or solution-focused approaches. Read other blog posts in the Court Craft Series here. In this post Michael King, a judicial officer in Victoria Australia and author of the Solution-Focused Bench Book, shares a tool he uses in court … Continue reading A judicial officer assists offenders to set rehabilitation goals & strategies (TJ Court Craft Series #8)
An experienced lawyer talks about how therapeutic jurisprudence improves justice…
Before becoming a professor, Michael Perlin was the Deputy Public Defender in charge of the Mercer County Trial Region in New Jersey, and, for eight years, was the director of the Division of Mental Health Advocacy in the NJ Department of the Public Advocate. Michael has represented thousands of persons with mental disabilities in individual … Continue reading An experienced lawyer talks about how therapeutic jurisprudence improves justice…
Five reasons why we need solution-focused approaches in courts
Guest blogger Michelle Edgely writes ... There are five cogent reasons why governments interested in evidence based policies should support solution-focused methods for dealing with drug-addicted and mentally impaired recidivist offenders in criminal courts: Rehabilitative sentencing is nothing new. Courts traditionally sentence offenders to achieve the balance appropriate to the case at hand of proportionate punishment, … Continue reading Five reasons why we need solution-focused approaches in courts
Mandatory sentencing – a TJ unfriendly bottle?
A Sentencing Advisory Council (Victoria, Australia) report on mandatory sentencing is a few years old now but still important given ongoing reliance on such laws in many jurisdictions. The paper examines the aims of mandatory sentencing and assesses whether the various schemes achieve those aims. It also looks at the economic and social costs of mandatory … Continue reading Mandatory sentencing – a TJ unfriendly bottle?
The ISTJ Blog 