JMVRI Issue Number 1
JMVRI Issue Number One features three articles on different topics. These range from the effect of the group practice of Transcendental Meditation and the Transcendental Meditation-Sidhi Program on social indicators in the Middle East, a paper considering Darshan or Vedic cognition in the light of artistic sight or vision, and, finally, a paper on therapeutic jurisprudence, the criminal justice system, and Transcendental Meditation as part of a program of empowering offenders to rehabilitate.
JMVRI Issue Number 1
JMVRI Paper 1.3
Empowering Offenders to Rehabilitate: Transcendental Meditation, Therapeutic Jurisprudence and the Criminal Justice System
Author: Michael S. King
This paper can be downloaded via the following link:
Citation: King, M.S. (2016). Empowering offenders to rehabilitate: Transcendental Meditation, therapeutic jurisprudence and the criminal justice system. Journal of Maharishi Vedic Research Institute, 1, 95-116.
Abstract
Therapeutic Jurisprudence is a major force in the contemporary justice system, with its principles informing the practice of drug courts, family violence courts, mental health courts and other solution-focused courts and increasingly, mainstream judging. It values practices that support offenders’ internal mechanisms of change.
The use of the self-development technique, Transcendental Meditation in offender rehabilitation is also based on the concept that individuals have unique healing mechanisms within. The practice of this technique produces a unique state of restful alertness, releasing stress, creating greater orderliness in the brain and promoting healing. Research has found that the technique promotes psychological growth and decreased recidivism in offenders.
While deserving of wider use in society for the prevention of criminal tendencies and the rehabilitation of offenders, the Transcendental Meditation technique can be used in conjunction with therapeutic jurisprudence based programs. A project based in Geraldton, Western Australia, illustrated how the use of both the Transcendental Meditation technique and therapeutic jurisprudence can promote offender rehabilitation.