Law and Psychology Commons^™

Silencing The Appellant's Voice: The Antitherapeutic Per Curiam Affirmance, Amy D. Ronner, Bruce J. Winick

Seattle University Law Review

This Article will analyze the antitherapeutic impact of the per curium affirmance (PCA) in two steps. First, delving into the psychology of procedural justice, this Article will explain how litigants value "voice," or the ability to tell their stories, as well as "validation," or the sense that the decisionmaker has heard their words and taken them seriously. Second, this Article, through the use of narrative, will show how a PCA had a negative psychological impact on an actual appellant in a criminal case. The Article will conclude by proposing an alternative to the antitherapeutic PCA.