“There’s A Dyin’ Voice Within Me Reaching Out Somewhere:” How TJ Can Bring Voice to the Teaching of Mental Disability Law and Criminal Law

In this short essay, I will discuss my historical involvement with therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ), how I use it in my classes (both in the free-standing TJ class and in all the others that I teach), its role in my written scholarship, and its role in conferences that I regularly attend. Although this will all be positive and will certainly be supportive of all efforts to widen the appeal of TJ as well as its applicability in the classroom, in scholarship, and in “real life,” I will also be sharing some information that is far from optimistic with regard to how law students and teachers react to TJ. I am deeply saddened by this but feel that this must also be “on the table” in any reflective conversation about TJ.