16 July 2015

Weaving strands with therapeutic jurisprudence

Health, cultural and social service professionals will join forces with judges, lawyers and criminal justice experts at New Zealand’s first conference in therapeutic jurisprudence at the University of Auckland in September.

Speakers and attendees from around the world will attend the fourth international Therapeutic Jurisprudence conference, “Weaving Strands: Ngā Whenu Rāranga”.

The theme signifies the unique interlacing of cultural, legal, psychological and social practice and philosophy in Aotearoa New Zealand with the international concept of therapeutic jurisprudence.

The two-day event, the ‘2015 Aotearoa Conference on Therapeutic Jurisprudence’ has attracted an impressive line-up of keynote speakers, led by one of the architects of this field, Professor David Wexler from the University of Puerto Rico.

Professor Wexler will speak on the future of therapeutic jurisprudence, highlighting moves in the United States, Australia and New Zealand to “mainstream” the approach into legal systems.

Other invited speakers include experts in legal and forensic medicine from Auckland, New York and Australia, including Professors Michael Perlin and Ian Freckleton and from New Zealand, Senior Lecturer Khylee Quince, Professor Chris Marshall, Judge Lisa Tremewan and Rawiri Pene.

Sessions at the conference include victim perspectives in criminal justice, best practise in court innovation, mental health intersections with the law, cultural perspectives and transformation of legal spaces, and youth and the criminal justice system.

Local organisers for the Conference are Katey Thom from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and Professor Warren Brookbanks from the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland.

Professor Brookbanks, an acknowledged expert on Therapeutic Jurisprudence, will launch his book entitled ‘Therapeutic Jurisprudence: New Zealand Perspectives’ at the conference, and a copy of the book is included in all full Conference registrations. Certificates of attendance are available for professional CPD requirements.

The Therapeutic Jurisprudence approach is used in problem-solving, solution-focused courts – such as drug treatment courts – where it is recognised that punishment doesn’t solve the fundamental problem of addiction.

Remedial efforts are instead focussed on addressing the underlying causes of some offending whilst still holding offenders accountable. The hope of Therapeutic Jurisprudence practitioners and commentators is that this approach can be extended into “mainstream” law, principally in the criminal law area.

“Insights of the social sciences, especially psychology, criminology and social work, can be used to inform this next part of the process, and elements such as reinforcement of desistance from crime and the techniques of relapse prevention planning, can be brought into the legal realm,” says Professor Wexler.

“Therapeutic Jurisprudence is a menu of conceptual tools or approaches for confronting the dysfunctional elements within legal institutions and procedures,” says Professor Brookbanks. “Its goal is to bring about change which affirms the status of people as subjects, not objects, within the multitude of legal procedures that comprise the domain of the law.”

For the conference website and registration, and more information on the full programme go to; http://tjaotearoa.org.nz/

ENDS

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