CJ 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Mental Health Law, Mental Health Court
18 May 2018
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Introduction
● Specialized courts include drug courts, domestic violence courts, DUI courts, community
courts, career criminal courts, etc.
○ Each specialized court targets different problems or populations
○ Goal is to achieve meaningful results with creative, individually tailored sentences
Origins and Distinguishing Features
● Specialized courts emerged in response to several factors
○ Concern with developing custom solutions to specific crimes
○ Minor problems cannot be ignored
○ These specialty courts have continued to grow in number and popularity
● Distinguishing features
○ Focus on outcomes
■ Traditional adjudication is concerned with process and punishment, not
outcomes
■ Outcomes can include long-term prospects for the offender, as well as the
effects of criminal sanctions on family members and relatives
○ Judicial monitoring
■ Problem-solving court judges stay involved in cases from beginning to
end
○ Informed decision-making
■ In some community courts, on-site caseworkers can evaluate defendant’s
needs for judges
○ Collaboration
■ Problem-solving courts can work with officials from public and private
agencies
○ Nontraditional roles - a movement from the adversarial system to one where
defense attorneys and prosecutors work together
○ Systemic change
■ Refers to the lessons problem-solving courts have learned and to the
changes they urge other public agencies to make
○ Voluntary participation
■ Defendants are generally given the choice to participate in specialized
courts
■ Benefit: the defendant may get help not offered in traditional courts (e.g.
drug treatment)
■ Drawback: “selection effect”
○ Therapeutic jurisprudence: seeing law as a helping profession
■ Arose from the field of mental health law
■ Concerned with consequences on social relationships
■ In cases of domestic violence, therapeutic jurisprudence focuses on
victim safety and offender accountability
○ Community input
Document Summary
Specialized courts include drug courts, domestic violence courts, dui courts, community courts, career criminal courts, etc. Each specialized court targets different problems or populations. Goal is to achieve meaningful results with creative, individually tailored sentences. Specialized courts emerged in response to several factors. Concern with developing custom solutions to specific crimes. These specialty courts have continued to grow in number and popularity. Traditional adjudication is concerned with process and punishment, not outcomes. Outcomes can include long-term prospects for the offender, as well as the effects of criminal sanctions on family members and relatives. Problem-solving court judges stay involved in cases from beginning to end. In some community courts, on-site caseworkers can evaluate defendant"s needs for judges. Problem-solving courts can work with officials from public and private agencies. Nontraditional roles - a movement from the adversarial system to one where defense attorneys and prosecutors work together.
