Humanizing Authority in the Court of Second Chances

In a study of therapeutic jurisprudence court sessions, I discovered how authority can humanize others in ways that humanize authority itself. The court sessions focused on defendants who struggle with mental health issues or homelessness, offering alternatives to jail sentences upon the completion of specified health and welfare programs. I saw that there was much to learn from those sessions with stigmatized populations about how those with authority might treat others as subjects versus as objects – a crucial issue relevant to empowering others to think for themselves and make choices that best serve their projects, organizations, and themselves. The research uncovers how the judge used her authority to humanize others and, ultimately, herself. I show the dynamics by which others are authorized as legitimate, as figures of authority create ennobling narratives and bonds that enable them to become agentic citizens of enterprises. There are implications here for what it means to genuinely empower others, to treat them as subjects that matter in their own right, rather than as loyal subjects that matter to the extent that they can perform tasks given by others. Genuine empowerment emerges as a relational achievement rather than as a transaction between leader and follower.