“Leave Your Pain Here”: An Illustration of Therapeutic Jurisprudence Through the Remarks of Judge Rosemarie Aquilla from the State of Michigan v. Larry Nassar

Authors

Leah Kaylor, Trauma Transformation Center
Terri L. Weaver, Saint Louis University
Katherine Kelton, Durham VA Medical Center

Abstract

Dr. Lawrence Nassar was the national medical coordinator of the United States of America Gymnastics (USAG), gymnastics team physician/assistant professor at Michigan State University, and the USAG artistic team physician who sexually abused many young women and children under the guise of medical treatments. In an unprecedented legal event, Judge Aquilina allowed anyone who had been impacted by Nassar’s abuse to participate in the pre-sentencing phase by reading a victim impact statement. Judge Aqualina listened to 156 impacted speakers and responded with personalized messages. This paper will examine Judge Aquilina’s responses to the victim impact statements through the lens of therapeutic jurisprudence with a focus on trauma-informed themes and messages of empowerment. Concrete examples of therapeutic jurisprudence will be provided as well as suggestions for how these behavioral and relational elements can be translated to inform judicial trainings.

Creative Commons License

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Recommended Citation

Kaylor, Leah; Weaver, Terri L.; and Kelton, Katherine (2022) "“Leave Your Pain Here”: An Illustration of Therapeutic Jurisprudence Through the Remarks of Judge Rosemarie Aquilla from the State of Michigan v. Larry Nassar," Qualitative Criminology (QC): Vol. 11: No. 2, Article 2.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol11/iss2/2