Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Family Justice System

Guest Blogger Emily Stannard explores how legal actors can improve the therapeutic impact of their roles at an individual level, with immediate effect... Therapeutic Jurisprudence (“TJ”) is the idea that “whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, the law is a social force with consequences in the psychological domain”. The psychological … Continue reading Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Family Justice System

Therapeutic Jurisprudence as an anti-bias tool in courtrooms

In this blog, Professor Vicki Lens of the Silberman School of Social Work, The City University of New York, explores dependency courts and the intersection of race, gender and class and how TJ principles can be used to reduce bias in court rooms.  While Professor Lens' work centres around dependency courts in the family law/child … Continue reading Therapeutic Jurisprudence as an anti-bias tool in courtrooms

Caring for Families in Court – new book out now

  TJ founder Professor David Wexler writes... Routledge Press has just published a crucially important book that should be of real and immediate interest to the Therapeutic Jurisprudence community. Authors Barbara Babb and Judith Moran’s Caring for Families in Court : An Essential Approach to Family Justice is a slim and meaty book that charts a course for moving … Continue reading Caring for Families in Court – new book out now

ACES: Deepening Therapeutic Jurisprudence Practice in Courts

This blog is a first in a series of three, over the coming weeks, in which we will explore how an understanding of the impacts of childhood trauma can improve the effectiveness of judges and court programs. Magistrate Pauline Spencer writes... The wonderful thing about Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ) is that it invites us to draw … Continue reading ACES: Deepening Therapeutic Jurisprudence Practice in Courts

Restorative practices to further therapeutic jurisprudence in Family Courts (An Amicus Justitia Brief)

Magistrate Gabriela McKellar writes... I am a magistrate in a Family Court in Cape Town South Africa, and I am interested in how to ensure a more consistent practice of Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Family Courts. Three concepts described and taught by the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP) namely the: Social Discipline Window (SDW), Fair … Continue reading Restorative practices to further therapeutic jurisprudence in Family Courts (An Amicus Justitia Brief)