About the ISTJ

Welcome to the website of the International Society for Therapeutic Jurisprudence (ISTJ)!

Co-founded in 1987 by law professors David Wexler and Bruce Winick, therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) is an interdisciplinary field of philosophy and practice that examines the therapeutic and anti-therapeutic properties of laws and public policies, legal and dispute resolution systems, and legal institutions. TJ values psychologically healthy outcomes in legal disputes and transactions, without claiming exclusivity in terms of policy objectives.

For many years, the therapeutic jurisprudence community has existed as an informal, growing global network of scholars, practitioners, judges, and students. With the formation of the ISTJ, we are now consolidating a variety of TJ initiatives and building an organizational framework for this community.

The ISTJ is a non-profit, learned organization dedicated to advancing TJ by:

  • supporting legal and interdisciplinary scholarship;
  • identifying and promoting best professional and judicial practices;
  • sponsoring conferences, workshops, and seminars;
  • engaging in continuing professional education and public education activities;
  • and hosting and participating in print, electronic, social media platforms.

We spent much of 2017 assembling our founding board of trustees and global advisory council, drafting and filing our incorporation papers and application for tax-exempt status, and creating this website. The ISTJ held its founding meeting in July 2017, at the International Congress on Law and Mental Health in Prague, Czech Republic.

To learn more about the leadership of the ISTJ, please go here.

Our tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) organization has been approved by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

We hope you will join the ISTJ as a founding member! Our standard membership fee is only $25 USD, and currently enrolled students may join for free. Please click here to join us!

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