Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

This presentation will discuss the failure of the traditional legal system to prevent and deal withbullying in our schools. Bullying is one of the most damaging and pervasive problems amongour youth populations. This presentation suggests a new approach to conflict resolution—theSocial Inclusion Approach—which takes a therapeutic jurisprudence (or restorative justice) viewto dealing with bullying and violence in our schools. In essence, we need to stop resolvingdisputes by simply finding someone to blame and punish. The result of the “blame” game is thatthe accused tries to avoid punishment by claiming innocence or passing the blame onto someoneelse. The central question becomes: can we have justice without blame? The answer is yes, ifwe humanize our approach to conflict resolution. We need a whole-school approach to bullyingin which we express disapproval for a perpetrator’s actions while not seeking to apportion blame.An approach based upon the tenets of therapeutic jurisprudence deals with the conflict openlybut not judgmentally.This presentation will actively demonstrate the Social Inclusion Approach by explaining andillustrating a “No-Blame” Mediation—one that can be successfully used in schools today. Thepresenter will seek to provide the information in the presentation in an active and experientialmanner—using Powerpoint slides, hand-outs, and an active simulation as time provides.Therapeutic Jurisprudence and the Treatment of Drug Addiction in the U.S.:What the Emerging Neuroscience Research and the Recently Upheld HealthCare/Insurance Law Portend for Decriminalizing Drug Addiction in the USLeonore M.J. Simon, Simon and Associates, Johnson City, USA (simonlmj@gmail.com)Therapeutic jurisprudence suggests that we use the law as a means to improve the health andwell-being of people who find themselves in the legal system due to drug addiction. In thedistant past, we involuntarily committed drug addicts to mental hospitals for forced mental healthtreatment. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has declared a war on drug addicts and their families byconvicting and imprisoning individuals who might not otherwise find themselves in prison. Thispaper examines emerging neuroscience research that explains the neurobiology of drug addictionand its changes of the brain in conjunction with the recently upheld Obama HealthCare/Insurance Law that treats mental disorders including drug addiction like other physicaldiseases. The opportunity to transform US drug policy from one that is ineffectively punitive andnot based on science to one that is based on science and manages addiction like any otherchronic physical condition is explored.187. Expanding TJ’s BoundariesCan TJ Inspire and Inform a Healthier Culture of Legal Scholarship?442