Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Practice: Applying Goffman’s Dramaturgical Approach to Mental Health Courts

Authors

Karen A. Snedker, Chapman UniversityFollow

Files

Description

"This chapter draws on qualitative data from two MHCs [mental health courts] to show how team members translate the tenets of therapeutic jurisprudence into the performance of their social roles in both formal and informal court settings. I argue that the successful operation of teamwork lies at the heart of MHC effectiveness. Judges, acting as both audience and team member, can undermine the work of the team. MHCs clearly rely upon a well-functioning collaborative team, working partially in backstage settings, with a judge willing to alter frontstage performances for the sake of collaboration and therapeutic effects for clients."

ISBN

9781439921647

Publication Date

9-2022

Publisher

Temple University Press

City

Philadelphia, PA

Keywords

Therapeutic Jurisprudence, mental health courts

Disciplines

Criminology | Criminology and Criminal Justice | Other Mental and Social Health | Politics and Social Change | Psychiatric and Mental Health | Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance

Comments

This material/chapter first appeared in Justice Outsourced: The Therapeutic Jurisprudence Implications of Judicial Decision-Making by Nonjudicial Officers edited by Kelly Frailing and Michael Perlin. pp. 39-53. Reprinted by permission of Temple University Press. © 2022 by Temple University Press. All Rights Reserved.

Recommended Citation

Snedker, Karen. 2022. “Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Practice: Applying Goffman’s Dramaturgical Approach to Mental Health Courts.” Pp. 39-53 in Justice Outsourced: The Therapeutic Jurisprudence Implications of Judicial Decision-Making by Nonjudicial Officers, edited by Kelly Frailing and Michael Perlin. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Copyright

Temple University Press