Therapeutic Justice

Karen A. Snedker is Associate Professor of Sociology at Seattle Pacific University, USA. She is also Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing, Affiliate Faculty in Sociology and a CSDE Research Affiliate at the University of Washington, USA. Her research interests focus on mental health, homelessness, crime and violence and neighbourhood effects, and she has published widely on these topics.

Chapter 1. Mental Health Courts as the 'New Generation' of Problem-Solving Courts.- Chapter 2. Beyond Adversarialism? Collaboration and Therapeutic Goals.- Chapter 3. Clients and Therapeutic Agents: Court Selection and Team Dynamics.- Chapter 4. Therapeutic Justice in Action: Court Process, Reviews and Sanctions.- Chapter 5. Reducing Recidivism and Pathways to Success.- Chapter 6. Stories from Clients: How Mental Health Courts Can Change Lives.- Chapter 7. Conclusion: From Therapeutic Justice to Social Work Criminal Justice.

"Snedker's qualitative study is a wonderful contribution to the emergent scholarship on empirically testing law's potential as a therapeutic agent. ... the book points to the immense value of qualitative methods of inquiry for examining mental health courts, and courts more generally. I hope the book inspires others to ethnographically discover the social worlds of problem-solving court professionals and participants" (Ursula Castellano, Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 49 (3), 2020)

"The intent of this book is to educate workers of mental health court ... . The book does an exemplary job of defining the use of the mental health courts, and gives clear guidelines of the execution and achievement of these courts. ... This book is highly recommended to anyone beginning employment or research in mental health court. As well as other court and justice professionals who would like to incorporate aspects of therapeutic justice into their work." (Deborah-Rae Chizek, Journal of Interprofessional Care, jicareblog.org, June 6, 2019)
"The book is beneficial in the area of contemporary mental health courts, therapeutic jurisprudence, and criminal justice reform. Therapeutic Justice is a wonderful read for all people vested in better understanding the intersection of mental health and the criminal justice system. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through faculty." (M. G. Urbina, Choice, Vol. 56 (05), January, 2019)