courts Judges Lawyers Restorative Justice Solution-Focused Therapeutic Jurisprudence

Lawyers promote restorative justice & therapeutic jurisprudence

While a lot of “lawyer dissing” goes on, some of it easily understandable, many lawyers and judges (who are also lawyers) should be recognized for promoting restorative justice and therapeutic jurisprudence. Judge Gordon McConnell was instrumental in the first modern restorative justice case. John Braithwaite, in Restorative Justice and Responsive Regulation, cites a paper by Peachy, D.E., 1989, “The Kitchener Experiment” In Mediation and Criminal Justice: Victims, Offenders and Community, edited by M. Wright and…

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APAC: Brazil’s Restorative Justice Prisons

On July 5 & 6, 2010, I visited two APAC prisons (Associacao de Protecao e Assistencia aos Condenados in English translated as: Association for Protection and Assistance of Convicts) in the city of Itauna, state of Minas Gerias, Brazil. The original APAC prison, which was in San Paulo, Brazil was reportedly the “first contemporary prison” to totally apply a faith-based approach to all parts of prison administration. (See: “Prison Religion: Faith Based reform and the…

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Restorative Justice Solution-Focused Therapeutic Jurisprudence

New Book: “Solution-Focused Judging Bench Book”

The  Solution-Focused Judging Bench Book was written primarily by Michael King, an Australian law professor and former judge, and was published by The Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration.  The book describes how courts can apply therapeutic jurisprudence principals, which “concentrates on the law’s impact on emotional life and psychological well-being” in court hearings. Bench books are used by judges to manage courtrooms, and this one offers some simple suggestions for making court hearings more likely…

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