Getting and Giving: What Therapeutic Jurisprudence Can Get from and Give to Positive Criminology

Abstract:     
This short essay explores the potential symbiotic relationship between therapeutic jurisprudence(TJ) and the newly-conceptualized area of Positive Criminology, a natural offshoot, with some important differences, of positive psychology. Therapeutic jurisprudence concentrates on the psychological impact of 'legal landscapes' (legal rules and legal procedures) and of 'practices and techniques' (roles and behaviors of legal actors, including lawyers, judges, and others working in a legal context). Under some conceptualizations, the 'legal landscape' has been likened to 'bottles' and the 'practices and techniques' to 'liquid', and one important task of a TJ agenda is to analyze how much TJ liquid can flow into given 'bottles'.

The essay sees a near perfect fit between TJ and positive criminology: TJ can look to developments in positive criminology as an excellent 'vineyard' from which to craft and recommend new practices and techniques. And the relationship is indeed a two-way street, for TJ can offer to positive criminology an assessment of how well given (and proposed) legal structures can accommodate a robust practice of positive criminology.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 8

Keywords: therapeutic jurisprudence, TJ, positive criminology, criminology, positive psychology, sentencing, corrections, criminal law, criminal procedure

Accepted Paper Series