Therapeutic Jurisprudence

Therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) is an interdisciplinary approach to the study and practice of law and the role of legal actors. It aims to focus on the often underappreciated aspect of the law and legal actors'role in producing therapeutic or antitherapeutic consequences. It is a normative framework that advocates the use of the social sciences to inform the processes and outcomes of legal interactions and procedures. It does not suggest that therapeutic concerns should override other important elements of the legal system (such as due process or justice concerns), but it does suggest that the therapeutic consequences of the law and legal actors be considered and systematically studied. TJ has become a highly influential framework for thinking about the law and the way legal actors interact ...