IngentaConnect Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned and forsaked: Therapeutic...

Authors: Birgden, Astrid¹; Perlin, Michael L.²

Source: Legal and Criminological Psychology, Volume 13, Number 2, September 2008 , pp. 231-243(13)

Publisher: British Psychological Society

Abstract:

Objectives

There has been an explosion of interest in therapeutic jurisprudence as both a filter and lens for viewing the extent to which the legal system serves therapeutic or anti-therapeutic consequences. However, little attention has been paid to the impact of therapeutic jurisprudence on questions of international human rights law and the role of forensic psychologists. The paper aims to provide an intersection between human rights, therapeutic jurisprudence, and forensic psychology.

Method

Human rights are based on legal, social, and moral rules. Human rights literature generally considers legal rights but such policy statements do not provide principles to guide forensic psychologists in addressing moral or social rights. Therefore, a framework to guide forensic psychologists is required.

Conclusion

As duty-bearers, forensic psychologists need to address the core values of freedom and well-being in rights holders (in this instance, prisoners and detainees with a mental illness). The paper proposes that human rights principles can add to the normative base of a therapeutic jurisprudence framework, and in-turn, therapeutic jurisprudence can assist forensic psychologists to actively address human rights.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1348/135532508X281511

Affiliations: 1: School of Psychology, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia 2: New York Law School, New York, USA

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Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned and forsaked: Therapeutic jurisprudence and international human rights law as applied to prisoners and detainees by forensic psychologists