Human Rights Law Commons^™

Yonder Stands Your Orphan With His Gun: The International Human Rights And Therapeutic Jurisprudence Implications Of Juvenile Punishment Schemes, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

In the last decade, the US Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty, a life sentence without possibility of parole (LWOP), and mandatory LWOP for homicide convictions violate the Eighth Amendment when applied to juvenile defendants. These decisions were premised, in large part, on findings that "developments in psychology and brain science continue to show fundamental differences between juvenile and adult minds," and that those findings both lessened a child's "moral culpability" and enhanced the prospect that, as the years go by and neurological development occurs, his "deficiencies will be reformed."

These decisions have, by and large, been welcomed …

Where The Home In The Valley Meets The Damp Dirty Prison: A Human Rights Perspective On Therapeutic Jurisprudence And The Role Of Forensic Psychologists In Correctional Settings, Astrid Birgden, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

The roles of forensic psychologists in coerced environments such as corrections include that of treatment provider (for the offender) and that of organizational consultant (for the community). This dual role raises ethical issues between offender rights and community rights; an imbalance results in the violation of human rights. A timely reminder of a slippery ethical slope that can arise is the failure of the American Psychological Association to manage this balance regarding interrogation and torture of detainees under the Bush administration. To establish a “bright-line position” regarding ethical practice, forensic psychologists need to be cognizant of international human rights law. …

Tolling For The Luckless, The Abandoned And Forsaked: Community Safety, Therapeutic Jurisprudence And International Human Rights Law As Applied To Prisoners And Detainees, Michael L. Perlin, Astrid Birgden

Articles & Chapters

There has been an explosion of interest in therapeutic jurisprudence as both a filter and lens for viewing theextent 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. Human rights are based on legal, social, and moral rules. The paper will propose that human rights principles can add to the normative base of therapeutic jurisprudence, and in turn, therapeutic jurisprudence can assist forensic psychologists to actively address human rights. As duty bearers, forensic …