Can the criminal law ever be therapeutic?

✍ Scribed by James McGuire

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 149 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0735-3936
• DOI: 10.1002/1099-0798(2000)18:4<413::aid-bsl365>3.0.co;2-h

✦ Synopsis

This paper addresses the question of whether criminal law, especially in its sentencing and penological aspects, can be adjusted in its workings to incorporate the perspective of therapeutic jurisprudence. A conceptual framework developed by Wexler, Winick, and their colleagues is employed to provide a basis for re¯ection on the operation and impact of sentencing processes. Of considerable importance is this exercise is a mounting volume of evidence concerning the outcomes of work with adjudicated oenders, which illustrates the potential of psycho-educational, behavioral±cognitive skillstraining, and therapeutic programs for reduction of recidivism. Such intervention programs are currently oered within the limits set by, but are not intrinsic components of, judicial decisions. The psycho-legal implications of these ®ndings are discussed and some possibilities surveyed for tentative exploration of actively therapeutic departures within crimino-legal decisionmaking.