Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

212. Using TJ to Improve the Criminal Justice System IToward a Model TJ “Code” of Criminal Processes and Practices: First BabyStepsDavid B. Wexler, University of Puerto Rico (davidbwexler@yahoo.com)Therapeutic jurisprudence has developed using some simple conceptual frameworks, such aslooking at the "law" as a potential therapeutic (or anti-therapeutic agent), and conceiving of the"law" as "legal rules", "legal procedures", and "legal roles"(the behavior and practices of lawyersand judges). There have been important TJ insights about each of the above categories, andsometimes the concepts of rules and procedures have been combined and called the "legallandscape" or the "bottles" of TJ, and the concept of legal roles has been thought of as the"lawyering" or the "liquid" of TJ. Recent interest in the 'new lawyering' has paid special attentionto the liquid. This presentation will take us back to the basics--the legal rules and the legalprocedures. It will demonstrate how the legal landscape itself can promote or inhibit therapeuticresults. And it will then show how the more TJ-friendly legal structures--the better "bottles" onthe landscape--can be filled with the TJ "liquid", with judicial and lawyer practices, so as tocreate maximum therapeutic results. By canvassing the legal landscape for TJ-friendly features,we can in essence create and propose a preliminary model TJ "code" of criminal processes, andby specifying the judicial and lawyer practices called for to take advantage of those processes,we can basically create an accompanying commentary to guide the operation in practice of thecode. This presentation will give only a handful of examples of legal provisions and suggestedpractices, opening up the task of creating a comprehensive code and commentary--a project thatwould obviously take much time and effort from a large number of participants.Civil Commitment, Post- Insanity Acquittal Commitment, and the ExpressiveFunction of PunishmentRobert F. Schopp, University of Nebraska (rschopp1@unl.edu)Therapeutic Jurisprudence pursues a project of research and law reform intended to promote thewell- being of those affected without violating other values embodied in law. Civil commitment,criminal prosecution with the possibility of an insanity acquittal and post- acquittal commitment,and mental health courts provide three alternative forms of police power intervention applied topsychologically impaired individuals who harm or endanger others. A variety of practicalconsiderations, such as the individual’s competence to proceed in the criminal process and theindividual and public interest in providing treatment in a timely manner might support a decisionto apply one of these institutions, rather than the alternatives, to a specific individual in specificcircumstances. In this presentation, I direct attention to the expressive function of criminal510