Therapeutic Jurisp & Sexual Predator Laws - Defense for SVP

age that is psychologically destructive both to members of society n288 and to society at large. As thisArticle has argued, society must think through whether this communal rage and vengeance is, in fact,helpful to its own sense of psychological wellbeing. n289TJ may also learn from the death penalty debate. Opponents of the death penalty claim that taking a humanlife through capital punishment may diminish respect for life generally. n290 So too, unleashing acollective unbounded anger against sex offenders and committing them indefinitely to a prison-like facilitywithout realistic hope for change or release diminishes society's belief in individual transformation andredemption. n291 TJ must consider whether some laws may be so antitherapeutic that they significantlydiminish our communal concern for psychologically improving the individual and society.A more provocative challenge for TJ is to demonstrate that law must have a therapeutic impact! Futurescholarship should explore whether TJ can create a jurisprudence that imposes on law an obligation to havea therapeutic purpose and effect when possible. This enterprise should not ground its jurisprudence onconstitutional principles or other charter documents, such as the European Convention of Human Rightsand Fundamental Freedoms. Instead, it should, generate an internally consistent jurisprudence based on itsunderlying values, methodologies, and knowledge base. n292 It should explore the possibility that helpingother human beings achieve gains in psychological well-being helps the community's own psychologicalstate as well.It is, of course, too early to determine whether this enterprise will ultimately succeed. The goal of thisArticle was simply to pose the question: can TJ always remain normatively neutral?Legal Topics:For related research and practice materials, see the following legal topics:Civil ProcedureJudicial OfficersReferencesPublic Health & Welfare LawHealthcareMental HealthServicesCommitmentDischarge & Release of AdultsCivil ProcedureJudicial OfficersMastersAppointmentsFOOTNOTES:n1 See, e.g., Essays in Therapeutic Jurisprudence (David B. Wexler & Bruce J. Winick eds.,1991); Law in a Therapeutic Key: Developments in Therapeutic Jurisprudence (David B. Wexler& Bruce J. Winick eds., 1996); Bruce J. Winick, Therapeutic Jurisprudence Applied: Essays onMental Health Law (1997). For examples of therapeutic scholarship, see Bruce J. Winick, TheJurisprudence of Therapeutic Jurisprudence, 3 Psychol. Pub. Pol'y & L. 184 (1997).n2 See, e.g., Mary L. Durham & John Q. La Fond, The Empirical Consequences and PolicyImplications of Broadening the Statutory Criteria for Civil Commitment, 3 Yale L. & Pol'y Rev.395 (1985).n3 See David B. Wexler, Health Care Compliance Principles and the Insanity AcquitteeConditional Release Process, in Essays in Therapeutic Jurisprudence, supra note 1, at 199.n4 See, e.g., Nathalie Des Rosiers et al., Legal Compensation for Sexual Violence: TherapeuticConsequences and Consequences for the Judicial System, 4 Psychol. Pub. Pol'y & L. 433 (1998).n5 See Christopher Slobogin, Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Five Dilemmas to Ponder, 1 Psychol.Pub. Pol'y & L. 193, 195 (1995).