Restorative Justice, Therapeutic Jurisprudence and the Rise of Emotionally Intelligent Justice

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, court and legal practices have changed due to the influence of more emotionally intelligent and less adversarial approaches to resolving legal disputes. Restorative justice encounters involving victims and offenders discussing what happened, why it happened and what reparation can be made have promoted victim wellbeing and offender rehabilitation. Therapeutic jurisprudence has suggested reforms to minimise the law’s negative effects on wellbeing and to promote its wellbeing-related goals such as crime victims’ safety and health, injured workers’ rehabilitation and broken families’ welfare. Both see the management of emotions and professionals’ interpersonal skills as important in dispute resolution. This article argues that judging and legal practice should include exercising intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, and that legal education should train legal professionals accordingly.

Keywords: Restorative Justice, victim wellbeing, offender rehabilitation, emotionally intelligent justice, welfare, resolution

JEL Classification: K4, K40, K41, K42, K49