The TJ Elements in Juvenile Justice System of Pakistan: Problems for a Juvenile Court to Act Therapeutically

Abstract

The TJ approach, at first instance, is an active therapeutic behavior in the judge towards the litigant before him/her. Then comes the supportive role of others like advocates, court staff and probation officers. A team of external actors, like socially active groups, also play a role in this process. The purpose is to apply an innovative judicial product, i.e. the TJ behavior that generates positive results and promotes the well-being of the accused.

In a developing country like Pakistan, to have a judicial behavior compatible with these applied ideas is not an easy task. The problems in Pakistan are complex regarding the application of the TJ approach in courtroom environment. They are, inter alia, illiteracy, lack of research and writing and empirical analysis of implications of judicial decisions, overworked, underpaid, and under-trained police, a language barrier between the legal system and the litigants (official court language is English, but the people speak local languages), poverty, incapacity to engage a lawyer, heavy backlog of cases in courts giving no time to judge for a TJ dialogue with the accused, non-training of police officers, lawyers, probation officers and judges regarding these sensitive matters, resulting in a lack of interest on part of judges to change their behavior toward the TJ approach specifically provided in juvenile law. To engage external actors for a reformative collective decision-making becomes a great task when you consider financial and other resources at your stake. Post trial follow-up by the judge needs time. There is also a giant gap between the academic and practical side of various social and behavioral sciences that deal with the study of judicial system.

Keywords: therapeutic jurisprudence, TJ, INTJ, JJSO 2000, Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000, Pakistan, juvenile delinquency, behavioural contract, magistrate, juvenile court

JEL Classification: K40