Therapeutic Justice

Abstract

Therapeutic Justice, Restorative Justice, and Problem-Solving Courts are names given by the criminal justice system to diversion programs that attempt to help people with serious mental illnesses get therapeutic intervention rather than languish in jails and prisons. As we have stated earlier, the statistics in the United States as well as the rest of the world indicate that more and more defendants in criminal proceedings enter the criminal justice system with previously diagnosed mental illnesses, ranging from schizophrenia and mood disorders to substance abuse problems. In fact, recent data from the U.S. Department of Justice suggest that approximately one-half of all defendants have been diagnosed with a mental illness by the time they are arrested, and approximately 60% of all defendants have substance abuse problems that may have gotten them in trouble with the law. Approximately 6.4% have a serious mental illness, with women, who make up only approximately 11% of jail inmates, having twice as many such disorders. In addition, women who are arrested are more likely to enter jails with multiple other problems that stem from their child raising responsibilities and histories of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and other trauma experiences. One-third of women defendants have been found to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives.