Putting the Wellness Court into Code

This session will discuss the recent Tribal Law and Policy Institute publication: Formalizing Healing to Wellness Courts in Tribal Law, which tracks ways in which tribes have drafted Wellness Courts into tribal law. Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts are restorative justice components of the Tribal Court. To the extent they operate a docket, adjudicate cases, and most critically, heal and restore members and the community, some tribes have noted their existence in the tribal code. Because each tribe is structurally and culturally unique, there is no one correct way to promulgate a Wellness Court into tribal law, or if that exercise is even necessary.

This session will identify the considerations for code drafting, identify variations, and push tribes to contemplate how the Wellness Court operates in relation to other parts of the tribal judiciary and tribal law.