Therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) is an interdisciplinary approach to legal scholarship with the goal of reforming the law so it has a positive impact on the well-being of defendants appearing in court.
By taking a non-adversarial approach to the administration of justice, judges and lawyers work together to create strategies that help offenders make positive changes in their own lives.
Constance Backhouse, a leading legal historian from Canada, has published a biography of Wexler and his work.
[3][4] The approach was soon applied to the way various legal actors—judges, lawyers, police officers, and psychologists and criminal justice professionals—play their roles, suggesting ways of doing so that would diminish unintended antitherapeutic consequences and increase the psychological well-being of those who come into contact with these legal figures.
TJ has emerged as the theoretical foundation for the increasing number of "problem-solving courts" that have transformed the role of the judiciary.
[6] Some countries embraced the TJ movement more than others: particularly the United States where it originated, as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with England slower until recently, while nevertheless developing some problem-solving courts.
[7] More recently, TJ concepts have entered into the systems of various other countries, such as Israel, Pakistan,[8] India, and Japan.