| Abstract: | Promising new developments concerning offender rehabilitation and various provisions of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and their judicial construction make it appropriate to reconceptualize the role of the criminal defense lawyer at plea bargaining and sentencing. These new developments provide new opportunities for attorneys to counsel clients about rehabilitative options, to facilitate their rehabilitative efforts, and to seek probation or reduced sentences as a result. The author proposes a new and broader role for counsel on the basis of principles of therapeutic jurisprudence and preventive law. The new approach is described, and the author suggests how counsel can hold conversations with clients about these sensitive issues and play a therapeutic and preventive role in ways that increase client liberty and well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved) |
