Care and Control in Collaborative Courts: Ethnographic Insights into Therapeutic Justice

“Collaborative courts, such as drug courts, reentry courts, and veterans treatment courts, have long been hailed by reformers as therapeutic alternatives to the adversarialism of traditional criminal justice. Proponents argue that such courts embody therapeutic jurisprudence, offering accountability and care rather than punishment. Yet this vision often clashes with concerns about control and coerciveness, particularly when defendants are expected to relinquish autonomy in exchange for emotional validation and institutional support. Based on ethnographic observations conducted between 2018 and 2023 in four collaborative courtrooms in Alameda County, California, this Essay explores the pervasive logic of “tough love” in collaborative courts: a model in which compassion and coercion are inextricably intertwined. Judges play quasi-parental roles, often praising vulnerability and “emotional growth” while simultaneously imposing rigid behavioral codes and exercising broad discretionary power. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s and contemporary critics’ analyses of disciplinary institutions, we suggest that these courts function as spaces of moral training and surveillance, governed more by affective control than by legal neutrality. Our findings complicate the celebratory narrative of problem-solving courts: while many defendants express gratitude and some clearly benefit from sustained engagement, the overall picture is ambivalent. The courts’ daily operations often blur the line between supportive guidance and paternalistic overreach. Building on our ethnographic observations and critical literature, we propose several design commitments that can preserve the caring and dignity-affirming features of collaborative courts while mitigating forms of penal overreach.”