About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

18 eLaw J. 1 (2011)

handle is hein.journals/elajrnl18 and id is 1 raw text is: A-C Larsen and P Milnes A Cautionary Note on Therapeutic Jurisprudence for Aboriginal Offenders A CAUTIONARY NOTE ON THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE FOR ABORIGINAL OFFENDERS Ann-Claire Larsen and Peter Milnes* Therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) is a recent legal practice reform, requiring judges and lawyers to attend to offenders' wellbeing. Despite being lauded as the 'most prolific vector' of the Comprehensive Law Movement, TJ has also been condemned as ineffectual, even dangerous. In this paper we review TJ in three sections: the problems TJ seeks to address, how TJ is applied and its requirements, and the new problems TJ produces. This paper exposes tensions between established legal principles and efficacy or recidivism concerns that drive the TJ agenda. It concludes that a judiciary that concerns itself with offenders' social and psychological problems may undermine established legal principles. 1 Introduction Therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) is a new legal reform requiring judicial officers and lawyers to promote offenders' 'wellbeing'' to improve their rehabilitative prospects. Proponents of TJ promise that these reforms will relieve the 'prison crush' in Australia's overcrowded prisons and address over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system. TJ has raised theoretical questions again about the appropriateness of rehabilitation projects2 involving treatment, the 'one size fits all'3 approach to offenders and mandatory sentencing. In the scramble to address recidivism, further questions must be asked about what is lost and gained in applying TJ reforms: are they informed by research-based evidence including local socio- cultural considerations, how are individual offenders assessed, are judges and * Ann-Claire Larsen, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD. Senior Lecturer, School of Law & Justice, Centre for Innovative Practice, Edith Cowan University, 127 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, Western Australia 6027. Email: a.1arsen(aecu.edu.au. Ann-Claire Larsen teaches international human rights and professional ethics for the School of Law & Justice at Edith Cowan University. Peter Milnes PhD; M.Ed.Admin; B.Ed.; B.Div.; Grad.Cert.Intercultural Studies. Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Law & Justice, Edith Cowan University, 127 Joondalup Drive, Joonalup, Western Australia 6027. Email: peter atbelco.com.au. Please direct all correspondence relating to this article to Ann-Claire Larsen. 1 Michael King, 'Applying Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Regional Areas - The Western Australian Experience' (2003) 10(2) June eLaw: Murdoch University Electronic Journal ofLaw para. 1. 2 Samantha Jeffries, 'How Justice Gets Done: Politics, Managerialism, Consumerism, and Therapeutic Jurisprudence' (2005) 17 Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 258. 3 See Natasha Bakht, 'Problem Solving Courts as Agents of Change' (2004) 4 February. <htto)://ww.iadtc.1aw, .ecu.edu.au/adfs/Problem%/2OSolvin2 %2OCourts%2OPaper%20final%/20ipr.pdf eLaw Journal: Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law (2011) 18(1) 1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most